Egmont is one of Scandinavia’s leading media companies, producing magazines, books, movie theatres, movies, TV, comic books, school books, communities, games and game consoles.

Egmont is active in more than 30 countries, with leading brands in Scandinavia and internationally, including Lindhardt og Ringhof, Carlsen and Alinea.

Egmont operates under The Egmont Foundation, a charitable organization concerned with vulnerable children and young people.

Egmont’s history dates back to 1878, when Egmont Harald Petersen acquired a hand press with financial support from his mother. In 1911 Egmont Harald Petersen built a large printing house and magazine company at Kongens Have in the middle of Copenhagen, in a building named Gutenberghus. After World War II, Gutenberghus began to spread internationally, starting with the German-speaking countries, and by the 1980s they were established in Great Britain.

At the end of the 1980s Egmont began to investigate digital opportunities, and today the company is involved in a broad assortment of online communities and e-commerce ventures in a string of countries.

Key Company Developments in 2012 & 2013

Financial:

In 2012 Egmont's revenue grew by 17%, rounding 1.6 billion EUR. Operating profit increased by 24% to 187 million EUR. This is Egmont's highest profit to date.

In 2012, the Kids division revenue was on par with the year before. The slight decline in profit is due to difficult market conditions, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.

In 2012 Egmont Books, consisting of Cappelen Damm in Norway and Lindhardt og Ringhof in Denmark, returned a profit in the challenging general literature and textbook markets. Cappelen Damm enjoyed another good year despite zero growth in Norway’s market as a whole.

In Denmark Lindhardt og Ringhof generated profit after several years of loss.

Ownership, Mergers & Acquisition, Internal Organization:

The company's acquisitions of Høyskoleforlaget and Akribe strengthened Egmont’s position as a publisher of books and electronic products for universities and the professional sector.

Lindhardt og Ringhof acquired Denmark's second-largest audio book publisher, Audioteket. During the year Kids Media launched over 200 apps and also secured new digital rights from Disney, Hasbro, Mattel, Warner Brothers and others.

The division also acquired a number of early learning apps called Fusentasterne, which have now been launched in 15 countries. Kids Media also bought Krea Medie, creator of one of Scandinavia's strongest edutainment-brands, Pixeline/Josefine.

Digital:

Egmont Kids Media continued to focus on multiplatform publications in 2012.

In 2012 the company invested in new development and consolidated digital products. The textbook publisher Alinea thus became Denmark's largest supplier of both analogue and digital learning media in 2012.

International:

Egmont UK appointed Penguin India as its distribution partner in January 2013, anticipating a sales boost of 50%. “It’s been a part of our strategy for the last couple of years to look at India,” according to Egmont UK group sales director Gillian Laskier, “and we even considered setting up our own company out there, but in looking at it closely, we decided to change distributor."

Bestselling Authors & Titles:

The Danish translation of S.J. Watson’s international bestselling thriller “Before I Go To Sleep” was released in spring 2012 through Lindhardt & Ringhof, part of the Egmont Books division.

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