The Sanoma Group is comprised of four reporting divisions: Media, News, Learning (former Sanoma Learning & Literature) and Trade. The Learning division includes Sanoma Learning strategic business unit, which operates in 14 countries and provides learning materials and solutions in print and digital format.
Key company developments in 2011 & 1st half year 2012
Financial:
Group revenues of Sanoma recorded a slight decrease from 2.76 billion EUR in 2010 to 2.75 billion EUR in 2011. The Learning division was also down, due to divestments and lower sales from non-core operations.
Lower net sales in Hungary were offset by increases in Belgium, where the market position in primary educationis supported by the successful launch of an online exercise platform. Net sales grew in Finland, driven by new online services and the success of acquired operations. In literature and other fields, net sales decreased by 28.9%, mainly because of the divestment of the Finnish general literature operations in October 2011.
Ownership, mergers & acquisition, internal organization:
In April 2011, Sanoma and Bonnier Books made public that Bonnier will buy the trade part of the biggest publisher in Finland, Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö (WSOY). In return, Sanoma bought the Finnish educational publisher Tammi Learning and the Swedish educational publisher Bonnier Utbildning (now Sanoma Utbildning). The transaction was completed on October 3, 2011 and amounted to 46.4 million EUR.
In line with the strategy to focus on core consumer media and education business, Sanoma divested its bookstore operations in Finland to the Otava group for 27.5 million EUR; its book logistics company to Bonnier; and its kiosk operations and press distributions in Finland, Lithuania and Estonia to the Norwegian Reitan Servicehandel AS.
International:
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Digital:
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Bestselling authors & titles:
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Key points for analysis & conclusions:
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Earlier developments:
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Note: Figures are based on sales generated in calendar 2011 or—for corporations with a fiscal year—from fiscal 2011. Data are from publicly available sources and include sales of books, journals, and digital products. Because publishing data were unavailable, Pannini and Disney/Hyperion are excluded from the rankings. The listing and publisher profiles were compiled by international publishing consultant Rudiger Wischenbart under the aegis of Livres Hebdo.
