INTERIM FINANCIAL REPORT AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2012 · 2016. 4. 15. · AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2012 . 24 ORE GROUP INTERIM FINANCIAL REPORT SEPTEMBER 2012 2 C ... Appointed on 14 February

INTERIM FINANCIAL REPORT AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2012

24 ORE GROUP

INTERIM FINANCIAL REPORT SEPTEMBER 2012

2

CORPORATE BODIES ................................................................................................................................. 3

STRUCTURE OF THE 24 ORE GROUP ........................................................................................................ 5

HIGHLIGHTS ........................................................................................................................................... 6

OPERATING PERFORMANCE IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2012 .................................... 7

GROUP PERFORMANCE BY OPERATING SEGMENTS .............................................................. 10

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2012 ............................................... 24

EVENTS AFTER 30 SEPTEMBER 2012 ............................................................................................. 26

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ................................................................................................................ 27

HIGHLIGHTS OF INCOME STATEMENT ..................................................................................................... 27

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION ..................................................................................................... 28

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS ................................................................................................................. 30

NET FINANCIAL POSITION ...................................................................................................................... 32

COMMENTARY ..................................................................................................................................... 33

GENERAL INFORMATION ........................................................................................................................ 33

FORMAT, CONTENT, AND ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ADOPTED .............................................................. 34

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS .................................................................................. 36

INCOME STATEMENT ............................................................................................................................. 36

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION ..................................................................................................... 39

OUTLOOK FOR THE YEAR ................................................................................................................ 43

DECLARATION PURSUANT TO ART. 154-BIS, PARAGRAPH 2, ITALIAN LEGISLATIVE DECREE NO. 58 OF 24

FEBRUARY 1998, AS AMENDED .............................................................................................................. 44

24 ORE GROUP


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Corporate bodies

The Board of Directors and the Board of Statutory Auditors were elected by the Ordinary

Shareholders’ Meeting on 14 April 2010.

The Board of Directors and the Board of Statutory Auditors will remain in office until the

shareholders’ meeting held to approve the 2012 separate financial statements.

Board of Directors

Chairman Giancarlo CERUTTI

Chief Executive Officer Donatella TREU

Directors Luigi ABETE

Diana BRACCO

Pierluigi CECCARDI

Claudio COSTAMAGNA (1)

Mario D’URSO (2)

Antonio FAVRIN

Alberto MEOMARTINI

Nicoletta MIROGLIO

Antonello MONTANTE

Marcella PANUCCI (4)

Aurelio REGINA

Carlo TICOZZI VALERIO (3)

Marino VAGO

Secretary to the Board

Gianroberto VILLA

(1) Independent Director. Appointed on 10 May 2011 to replace Francesco Caio, who resigned on 20 April 2011. Appointment confirmed by

the Shareholders’ meeting of 23 April 2012

(2) Independent Director.

(3) Independent Director. Appointed on 14 February 2012 to replace Piero Gnudi, who resigned on 2 December 2011. Appointment confirmed by the Shareholders’ Meeting of 23 April 2012

(4) Appointed on 31 July 2012 to replace Giampaolo Galli, who resigned on 24 July 2012.

24 ORE GROUP


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Board of Statutory Auditors

Chairman Luigi BISCOZZI

Standing statutory auditors Demetrio MINUTO

Maurilio FRATINO

Alternate Statutory Auditors Maria SILVANI

Fabio FIORENTINO

Internal Control & Audit Committee

Chairman Carlo TICOZZI VALERIO

Members Marino VAGO

Mario D’URSO

Human resources and compensation committee

Chairman Diana BRACCO

Members Claudio COSTAMAGNA

Mario D’URSO

Representative of special-category shareholders

Mario ANACLERIO

Corporate financial reporting manager

Massimo Luca ARIOLI

Internal control & auditing manager

Massimiliano BRULLO

Independent auditor

KPMG S.p.A.

24 ORE GROUP


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Structure of the 24 ORE Group

Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A.

Nuova Radio S.p.A. 100%

Il Sole 24 ORE UK Ltd 100%

24 ORE Cultura S.r.l. 100%

Italia News S.r.l.

in liquidation20%

Newton Management

Innovation S.p.A.60%

Newton Lab S.r.l. 51%

Alinari 24 ORE S.p.A.

in liquidation55%

Business Media Web S.r.l.

in liquidation60%

Diamante S.p.A. 75.02%

Innovare24 S.p.A. 100%

Esa Software S.p.A. 70%

Mondoesa Milano

Nordovest S.r.l49%

Fabbrica24 S.r.l. 100%

Cesaco S.r.l. 48%

Mondoesa Lazio S.r.l. 35%

Aldebra S.p.A 19.39% MondoesaEmilia S.r.l. 40%

Mondoesa Laghi S.r.l. 33.7%

Companies included in scope

of consolidation

Shopping 24 S.r.l. 100%

Operating associates

30%

Signet S.r.l. 70%

Lambdago S.r.l. 70%

24 ORE GROUP


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HIGHLIGHTS

• Consolidated revenue of €315.9 million, down by 6.7%, mainly due to the performance of

the advertising market.

• Gross operating loss equal to -€20.0 million, affected by the drop in advertising revenue,

higher costs linked to the increase in postal rates for mailing (+15.2% basic tariff and +24%

Saturday tariff), production costs linked to the increase in the price of raw materials and costs

linked to the organisation of exhibitions and trade fairs, which generated a decrease of €25.7

million compared to 30 September 2011.

• Group loss of €22.7 million, decreasing by €10.2 million compared to the same period of

2011.

• Positive Net Financial Position of €28.0 million

• Circulation revenue for the daily newspaper was positive (+€0.9 million).

• Growth in circulation of the paper version: +2.2% in the first nine months of 2012 (internal

processing based on new ADS data). Growing pdf and iPad subscriptions: +95%. Paid

digital subscriptions total over 37,000.

• In the nine months, the www.ilsole24ore.com website grew by +49.5% among average

daily unique browsers and +74.5% of average daily pages. In the first nine months of

2012, the mobile version of the website grew by 125.3% among average daily unique

browsers and +167.3% of average daily pages (source: Nielsen Site Census).

• Tax & Legal GOP continues to account for 29% of revenue, in line with the same period of

the previous year, thanks to the excellent performance of digital revenue, which grew from

42% to 51% of the total, despite the period of crisis in the reference markets.

• The Group's digital revenue, amounting to 25.3% of total Group revenue, was up compared

to the 23.8% posted in the first nine months of 2011.

• System advertising revenue decreased by 12.6% against -10.5% of the market (source

Nielsen). Trend of advertising revenue higher than the market for IlSole24ore.com net of

funds, obtaining +15.3% vs. +14.7% of the display market (source: FCP – AssoInternet) and

for Radio (-3.5% vs. -7.4%).

• Radio 24 confirms it position among the top ten most listened to national radio stations with

1,872,000 listeners. Its market share in seconds grew from 8.2% in 2011 to 8.3% at 30

September 2012 (source: Eurisko Radio Monitor research).

• Good performance of Il Sole 24 ORE brand software products (revenue +0.6%).

24 ORE GROUP


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OPERATING PERFORMANCE IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2012

Market environment

The macroeconomic context is markedly recessive, with direct impacts on the paper publishing

market.

The negative trend is confirmed for 2012, which is seriously affected by the heavy economic crisis

in progress, causing a reduction in final demand of companies, public entities and households.

The self-employment sector also recorded a considerable drop in turnover consequently to both a

reduction in customers and the delay in collection of fees.

In the entrepreneurial world, there has been an increase in discontinued companies along with a fall

in registrations of newly established companies compared to the previous year. The net balance of

companies opening and closing fell from 50,154 in 2011 to 14,984 in 2012 (source: processing of

Movimprese-Infocamere data).

The advertising market as a whole, considering all media including television, contracted by 10.5%

relative to the figure for the same period of 2011 (Source: Nielsen Media Research - January-

August 2012), thus further worsening the negative trend of the start of the year.

Advertising revenue from the press suffered considerably: daily newspapers as a whole dropped by

13.9%, paid dailies decreased by 12.8% and magazines declined by 16.2%. Radio’s performance

dropped (-7.4%), with the online segment being the only one experiencing growth (+11.0%) and

Internet display rising by +14.7%.

We note the change in the ADS survey method. Since April 2012, the moving average for the

previous twelve months is not longer communicated, but only the monthly data.

24 ORE GROUP


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Performance of the 24 ORE GROUP

HIGHLIGHTS OF 24 ORE GROUP

(in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011

Revenue 315,856 338,541

Gross operating profit/loss (20,040) 5,616

Operating profit/loss (34,942) (14,458)

Profit (loss) before tax (35,145) (13,394)

Profit (loss) from continuing operations (23,518) (13,755)

Profit (loss) from discontinued operations - 1,247

Profit (loss) attributable to owners of the parent (22,655) (12,452)

Net financial position 27,967 42,091 (1)

Equity attributable to owners of the parent 224,051 247,940 (1)

Employee headcount at end of year 1,890 1,911 (1)

(1) Value related to 31 December 2011

As at 30 September 2012, the 24 ORE Group obtained consolidated revenues of €315.9 million,

with a change of -6.7% compared to the €338.5 million in the same period of 2011. This result was

obtained thanks to the growth in revenues in the Digital Area (+7.0%), the Training Area (+1.1%)

and the Culture Area (+72.0%), which partly offset the decrease in the advertising revenue (-13.0%)

for magazines and books.

In any case personnel expense decreased by €6.0 million, equal to 4.9%, mainly due to the lower

average headcount as an effect of the reorganisation plan. The average number of employees

amounted to 1,858, compared with 1,986 in the same period of the previous year.

Direct and operating costs increased by 4.7%, equalling €9.8 million, compared with the same

period of 2011, due to the following effects:

- costs for raw materials and consumables increased by €0.9 million, mainly due to the rising

price of raw materials, specifically the increase of 3.4% in the price of paper compared to 30

September 2011 and the higher number of copies produced;

- costs for exhibitions and fairs rose by €4.4 million in connection with the rise in revenues

from exhibitions;

- distribution costs rose by €2.6 million (+9.5%) due to higher distribution charges calculated

on the new cover price, greater volumes and the increasing postal rates (+15.2% basic tariff

and +24% Saturday tariff);

- commissions and other selling costs dropped by 13.2% consequently to the performance of

advertising revenue and the rationalisation of sales structures.

- other operating costs increased by €2.0 million, in part relating to the pro-bono collection of

donations for the areas hit by the earthquake in Emilia;

The gross operating loss (GOP) amounted to €20.0 million (GOP of €5.6 million in 2011),

decreasing by €25.7 million compared to 30 September 2011.

The operating loss stood at €34.9 million compared to a loss of €14.5 million in the same period of

2011. Depreciation, amortisation and impairment totalled €15.9 million, in contrast with €20.4

million in 2011. Of interest is that the amortisation of the concession and broadcasting frequencies

as at 30 September 2011 equalled €2.6 million. The useful life of concessions and broadcast

24 ORE GROUP


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frequencies was reviewed and made indefinite at the end of last year. As a result, they are no longer

amortised.

The loss attributable to owners of the parent amounted to €22.7 million, compared with the

€12.5 million loss in the same period of 2011.

The Group’s net financial position as at 30 September 2012 came to €28.0 million, compared with

€42.1 million at the start of the year.

24 ORE GROUP


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GROUP PERFORMANCE BY OPERATING SEGMENTS

Organisational and offer rationalisation actions were taken in the second half of 2011, as

summarised below:

- The Tax & Legal, Software Solutions and Training and Events business units of the former

Professional area were made independent and separate in terms of responsibilities;

- The business unit related to real time financial reporting was sold in July 2011. This

disposal was treated in the 2011 comparison data as a discontinued operation and the results

are highlighted in a specific line of the income statement.

In order to render the amounts for the two years comparable, the results for 2011 have been

reclassified on the basis of the new organisational structure.

The data is reported net of internal relations.

Publishing Area – Generalist and sector-specific publishing

Publishing is the division that heads up the daily newspaper Il Sole 24 ORE, its bundled add-on

products, theme magazines such as English24 and I Viaggi del Sole, and the monthly IL – Il

maschile de Il Sole 24 ORE, plus a number of primary processes (printing and distribution) also

managed for other Group segments. The area also comprises the Radiocor news agency and the

B2B integrated communication activity targeting SMEs in specific sectors, including agrifood,

retail distribution, construction and welfare, directly managing dedicated advertising sales forces.

PUBLISHING AREA REVENUE BY PRODUCT

(in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change

Newspaper 102,681 112,688 -8.9%

Add-ons 6,589 7,077 -6.9%

Sector-Specific Publishing 23,119 26,913 -14.1%

Agency and P.A. 5,978 6,198 -3.6%

Other 2,095 3,010 -30.4%

Total 140,462 155,885 -9.9%

Market figures, updated to August, show an even more negative trend than that already seen

throughout 2011, with a contraction in terms of advertising of 10.5% (-13.9% for daily newspapers,

-16.2% for magazines - source Nielsen Media Research – January-August 2012).

In terms of circulation, the ADS average of the eight main paid dailies (source: ADS August 2012)

grew by 2.8% between August and July. In the same period, Il Sole 24 ORE recorded a 0.3%

growth.

According to the Audipress data regarding the comparison between the second cycle of 2012 (2

April - 8 July 2012) and the first cycle of 2012 (9 January - 25 March 2012), the average daily

number of newspapers’ readers in Italy, equal 23.72 million, dropped by 948 thousand (-3.8%).

Il Sole 24 ORE gained 4.2% readers in the period, with a total of 1,192,000 people who leaf

through the newspaper on an average day, against one million two hundred thousand in the period

January - March 2012.

24 ORE GROUP


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Aggregate revenue generated by the Publishing Area was €140.5 million (-9.9% compared to the

same period of 2011) due to the performance of advertising revenues (-18.2%) and circulation

revenue and other revenue (-1.7%).

Revenue for the daily newspaper dropped by 8.9% compared with the same period of the previous

year. The increased circulation revenue and other revenue (+1.6%) partly offset the drop in

advertising for the daily newspaper and its add-on products.

Circulation revenue for the daily newspaper was positive +0.9 million) due to the contribution of

sales combined with publishing initiatives.

Of interest is the growth in the number of pdf and iPad subscribers. The more than 37,000

subscriptions to electronic formats in September 2012 (+95% over December 2011) demonstrate

that a significant portion of the customer base chooses to subscribe to the Group's offering of

multiple-platform content.

Circulation of our newspaper (average for the first nine months of 2012) reached 261,952 average

copies, up by +2.2% compared with the first nine months of 2011.

In addition to providing complementing detailed page inserts illustrating the principal changes in

the national budget act, the Group also published the edition of Telefisco: the conference where the

newspaper’s experts and Italian Treasury officials illustrate the changes and reply to readers’

questions. The 2012 edition was very well received by professionals: in the 150 venues linked by

videoconference and on the Internet, over 100,000 participants followed the conference. In

February 2012, the instant book with CD-rom containing videos of the reports and regulatory

insights was proposed at newsstands.

The publication of Guide Pratiche (Practical Guides) of Il Sole 24 ORE continued in 2012: these

are detailed studies the newspaper provides on the occasion of major regulatory changes. These are

connected with an online forum and a dedicated show on Radio24. Among the main titles there are:

Lavori in casa, Società di comodo, Irap, Gli studi di settore, Imprese e gare pubbliche,

Professionisti e antiriciclaggio, La scelta dell’università, La sanatoria degli immigrati; Guida

all’università; I nuovi leasing; Sanzioni alle imprese; Trovare lavoro; Edilizia più facile; I nuovi

compensi dei professionisti; Ravvedimenti fiscali; Liti di lavoro; Le nuove società; and Scuola: i

test del concorso.

The initiative L’estate rovente con il tuo amico Sole continued all summer, a bi-weekly issue

inaugurated on 29 June with La grande crisi (The Big Crisis) on Fridays and La tua economia

(Your Economy) on Tuesdays, for €0.50 more when you buy the daily newspaper.

Other initiatives include:

- the instant book Le nuove pensioni was proposed at newsstands, containing also an online

version, analysing the main changes to the pension reform;

- on 3 March, a collection of 20 guides was launched at newsstands, providing guidance on

investments and finance: I tuoi soldi – le guide di Plus24;

- the Racconti d’autore initiative (books added on Sundays) continued;

- on 6 March “L’anno che ha cambiato la vita degli italiani” was launched in combined sale:

a survey by Il Sole 24 ORE on all the regulatory changes that have transformed the life of

citizens, consumers and tax-payers;

24 ORE GROUP


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- the conference Tuttopensioni 2012 was held on 19 March. It was promoted in collaboration

with INPS and dedicated to the changes in pensions as part of the reform. The project

involved all the group’s areas concerned (Annual and events, Online, Tax & Legal,

Radio24);

- the 14th

edition of Premio alto rendimento was held on 20 March: recognition of Il Sole 24

ORE to Italian and foreign holding companies and open-end investment companies that

recorded the best performance in the last three years.

- on 17 April, in view of the important publication about tax returns, the newspaper proposed

two paid bundled add-on products: Guida 730 with an accompanying code that allows

readers to access an online software programme enabling them to fill out and print their own

Form 730 Italian tax return; and Guida Unico 2011 published on 18 May with CD ROM,

sold together with a demo version of the VIA LIBERA operating software by Il Sole 24

ORE, forms, documentation and a selection of answers by experts;

- a new initiative was taken starting from 17 May by Il Sole 24 ORE to service citizens:

"SPORTELLO SOLE 24 ORE". On Thursdays the "Sportello" of Il Sole 24 ORE tries to give

the answers of a Minister or the Manager of an administration or market institution on the

main topics proposed by citizens, together with a report containing detailed information and

practical indications from the editorial office.

- the 7th

edition of the Forum Lavoro, organised in collaboration with the Il Consiglio

Nazionale dei Consulenti del Lavoro (National Labour Consultants Board), was held on 30

May: a chance for professionals and experts from the Ministry of Labour and Il Sole 24

ORE to discuss on the main changes related to the Labour market reform. The 2012 edition

recorded about 13,000 participants from the 103 offices connected by provincial boards,

employment consultants and users streaming on the Sole website.

On the approval of the Labour market reform, in addition to creating a series of detailed page

inserts, the daily newspaper published a monograph, at the newsstands on Wednesday, 11 July. The

text dealt with all the main changes related to the labour market, envisaged by the reform: from the

reorganisation of contract types to the new rules for social shock absorbers, to the introduction of

flexibility in starting and ending a job.

Every day, from 1 August, Il Sole 24 ORE contained in its pages L’enciclopedia del risparmio: an

economic knowledge initiative in the service of savers: from A to Z, a useful guide to understanding

the new phase of the crisis and investing your money well.

From 5 August, for the Reform of Professional Categories, the daily newspaper instituted a daily

survey of the effects of the reform, category by category, and a focus on the changes envisaged by

the reorganisation.

On 7 August, the investigation of industrial districts in Italy was launched, telling the stories of

transformations, crises and successes, starting with Viaggio nell'Italia dei distretti, reporting which

illustrated the evolution of the 65 districts which were analysed by Il Sole 24 ORE for the first time

in 1992.

For the one year anniversary of Sole Junior – the Sunday page of Sole 24 ORE dedicated to

children – the daily newspaper offered a collection of the main subjects covered during the year.

24 ORE GROUP


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The book Junior 24, at newsstands Wednesday, 19 September with the daily newspaper, illustrates

the secrets of the economy to children, explaining why the economy is so important to everyday

life.

The add-on products market confirmed its progressive downturn. A markedly negative

performance was recorded in the first nine months of the year, characterised by a drop in the

average copies sold per initiative. The market performance was affected by regulatory changes

regarding circulation, which give discretional margins to newsagents for returns and products to be

sold. All publishers experienced increased early returns and contracted average sales.

The Group’s business in this reference framework showed revenue decreasing by 6.9%, compared

to the trend of the same period of the previous year.

In the magazine sector, the negative trend for advertising revenue worsened in July and August

2012: -35% for the total magazines market and -47% for men’s magazines. In the first eight months

of the year, men's magazines posted a downturn of 26.4%.

The non-positive performance of the monthlies in this Area (-30.4% compared with the same period

of 2011) is affected by the closure of Ventiquattro.

Sector-specific publications were hit by the negative economic situation, which is reflected on the

B2B sector-specific publishing market.

The first three quarters showed an 14.1% contraction of revenue compared to 2011. The difficult

moment experienced by the merchandise segments in which the business unit operates, further

reduced the advertising drive associated with trade shows. To counteract the fall in revenue, actions

were taken on cost dynamics, with impacts in terms of results, which can already be seen during

this year.

The Agency and Public Administration Services B.U. recorded decreasing revenues as at 30

September 2012 (-3.6%) compared to the same period of the previous year, due to a market

situation in which the main national and international press agencies operating in Italy and

competitors of Radiocor are heavily affected by the ongoing crisis on the financial markets. The

development of agreements with international operators is continuing, allowing the trend of the

traditional services offered by the Radiocor agency - RCO news - to be maintained and the effect of

the persisting slowdown of the demand from the Italian Public Administration market to be

mitigated.

PUBLISHING AREA RESULTS (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change

Circulation/other revenue 76,922 78,213 -1.7%

Revenue from advertising 63,541 77,672 -18.2%

Revenue 140,462 155,885 -9.9%

Gross operating profit (loss) (28,388) (14,853) -91.1%

GOL margin % -20.2% -9.5% -112.1%

Operating profit (loss) (32,416) (19,486) -66.4%

24 ORE GROUP


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System Area – Advertising sales

System is the division acting as the advertising sales agency for the Group’s main media – except

for sector-specific publishing, which has its own network, and for some third-party media.

SYSTEM AREA REVENUE


Captive revenue 83,449 97,557 -14.5%

Non-captive revenue 9,894 9,094 8.8%

Total 93,342 106,652 -12.5%

In July-August 2012, the reduction in advertising investments intensified. The market as a whole

closed the first eight months of the year with a double digit loss (-10.5%). The performance of all

media worsened, with the sole exception of Internet, which grew by 11.0%. The press recorded the

most significant drops: daily newspapers -13.9% and magazines -16.2%. TV recorded -10.9% and

radio fell by 7.4% (source: Nielsen Media Research January–August 2012).

In this context, the System Area, in which press generates about 69% of revenue, closed the first

nine months of the year with a decrease of 12.5% compared to the same period of 2011, earning

revenue totalling €93.3 million. The decrease, lower than that of the market, is essentially the result

of two trends:

- the persisting crisis in the financial markets, which has a specific negative effect on

financial/legal and fund advertising, in which Il Sole 24 ORE leads the market with a 41%

share (in terms of number of market notices of the main competitors); - the natural and historic difficulty in obtaining advertising investments from distribution,

mass retail and tourism companies, which are aimed at a target that is not in line with our

media, as our media is aimed at a highly professional target.

Specifically, the daily newspaper recorded an overall decrease of 15.4%, caused by the decrease of

14.4% in commercial advertising (which represents 58% of the daily newspaper's revenue) and a

drop of 15.5% in financial advertising. These results were influence by the contraction in the

financial market. Analysing our daily newspaper by merchandise segment, the top three segments

are confirmed as Finance/Insurance, Professional Services and Automotive, which represent 48% of

total revenue from advertising space (Source: Nielsen Media Research January - September,

space).

Magazines recorded a 19.9% drop. This result was influenced by the termination of Ventiquattro

starting from June 2011; net of said discontinuity, the performance improves, reaching -10.1%,

more positive than the market trend for magazines (-16.2%).

Radio24 recorded good performance, closing the first nine months with a slight downturn (-3.5%),

but showing better performance than the market trend (-7.4%). Also in terms of space, Radio24

performed better than its competitors. The broadcaster increased its share in seconds compared to

the total radio market (+0.2 percentage points). The leading sectors for Radio24 are as follows:

Automotive, Finance/Insurance and Professional Services. These three segments account for 48%

of total revenue in seconds, and have recorded significant growth on our broadcaster (+11.1%),

compared with an smaller increase in the total radio market (+5.6%).

24 ORE GROUP


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Advertising revenue from Internet, net of funds, rose by 13.5%. The site www.ilsole24ore.com

recorded a 15.3% increase in a display market that grew by 14.7%. On a like-for-like basis, the

increase in online advertising reaches 20.9%.

SYSTEM AREA RESULTS (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change

Circulation/other revenue 310 204 52.1%


Revenue 93,342 106,652 -12.5%

Gross operating profit (loss) (3,444) (4,212) 18.2%

GOL margin % -3.7% -3.9% 6.6%

Operating profit (loss) (3,446) (4,214) 18.2%

Tax & Legal Area – Professional publishing

The Tax & Legal Area develops integrated product systems of technical and regulatory content

targeting mainly professionals, companies and the public administration. The specific market

segments are controlled by three Business Units (Taxes/Labour/Economy, Law, Construction and

Public Administration), which satisfy all the information, training and operative requirements of

the reference targets through specialist information tools closely integrated one with the other.

TAX & LEGAL AREA REVENUE


Books 4,670 7,198 -35.1%

Magazines 22,479 27,657 -18.7%

Electronic publishing 24,071 23,253 3.5%

IT services 5,206 3,250 60.2%

Other revenue 1,481 1,414 4.7%

Tax & Legal Total 57,906 62,772 -7.8%

The Tax & Legal BU operates in a market characterised by a markedly shrinking demand in a very

negative economic environment.

The negative trend is confirmed also for 2012, which is seriously affected by the heavy economic

crisis in progress, causing growing difficulties for the final demand of companies, public entities

and households, which professionals interface with, who represent the main target for the Area. In

turn, professional firms are sharply reducing their expenditure.

The consumption model is evolving in favour of electronic media, online service, products and

databases. This phenomenon led to a downturn in expenditure, due to the difficulty for the

professional market to sell online information at a price that is suitable for the paper version.

The use of traditional paper media, books and magazines continues to decrease, confirming also in

2012 the negative trend of 2011 (-3.4% for books and -9.9% for magazines – source Databank

2011). In the first nine months of 2012, the book market saw a decrease in its volume turnover

(Nielsen figures, trade channel) of -8.7% compared to the previous year (source: Rapporto sullo

stato dell’editoria in Italia 2012 – AIE)

24 ORE GROUP


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The revenue of the Tax & Legal BU in the first nine months of 2012 equalled €57.9 million,

decreasing in comparison with the €62.8 million of the same period of 2011 (-7.8%). The negative

performance is exclusively concentrated on print products, books (-35.1%) and magazines (-

18.7%).

This negative trend resulted in the decision to close seven paper publications in 2012 showing low

or negative margins, some of which are now only available in their online version.

The digital component grew by 10.5% (E-publishing and online services), accounting for 51% of

total revenues from the business unit in 2012, compared with 42% at September 2011, due to a

reduction in the paper component, whose influence decreased from 56% in 2011 to 47% in 2012. It

is important to note the highly positive trend in online services and products (60.2%), confirming

the ever growing tendency to go online to acquire information and updates.

Actions were taken to encourage a switch from paper to online versions and in particular:

- digitalisation of all printed products, of several online magazines sold individually, of all

magazines in the Riviste24 database which can now be read using tablets via the

Professioni24 app, and additional development of the catalogue of digital books sold as a

single shot and on a subscription basis;

- development of new sales methods, such as 24ore on demand and the sale of magazines in

digital format on the Apple Store as well as through the e-commerce channel;

- upgrade and specialisation of the sales network.

Therefore, the initiatives and new projects were focused on expanding the online range and

digitalizing all of the paper versions. The iPad version of all databases of the Area, Guida Pratica

Fiscale +, L@voro, Sistema Società, 24OreNet, Sistema Pratico Diritto, Guida agli Enti Locali,

Soluzioni24 Accertamento, 24 Ore on demand, and the databases for smartphones, Professionisti24,

were released. In September, the app providing regulatory, tax, fiscal and legislative insights was

issued, which will be correlated with the articles in the Norme e Tributi (Laws and Tax) section of

the daily newspaper and the contents of the Tax & Legal Area.

In this market transition phase, the area keeps good margins as confirmed by the growing GOP,

which remains at levels in line with the same period of the previous year.

TAX & LEGAL AREA RESULTS (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change


Revenue from advertising 419 452 -7.3%

Revenue 57,906 62,772 -7.8%

Gross operating profit (loss) 16,713 18,077 -7.5%

GOL margin % 28.9% 28.8% 0.2%

Operating profit (loss) 16,623 18,064 -8.0%

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Software solutions Area

The Software Solutions area includes all the software activities of the 24 ORE Group, through a

functional organisation that covers various activities and addresses the markets through the brands

that make it up. The range specifically comprises software products with the “Software 24Ore”

brand, mainly addressed to professionals such as the Innovare 24 brand products (former STR,

former Data Ufficio and former Softlab) that are specific for the public administration, the

construction industry and the lawyer market, and finally the Esa Software and Diamante brand

products targeting SMEs.

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS AREA REVENUE BY SEGMENT (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change

ESA products 17,773 18,934 -6.1%

Tax & Labour products 14,881 14,789 0.6%

STR products 7,417 8,632 -14.1%

Data Ufficio products 4,937 8,010 -38.4%

Legal products 294 259 13.3%

Softlab products 600 167 insig.

Diamante products 175 - insig.

Total 46,078 50,790 -9,3%

The reference market where the Software Solutions area operates is addressed to professionals such

as chartered accountants, employment consultants, lawyers, engineers, architects, surveyors and

small and medium enterprises. The area is also engaged in the Public Administration sector and

associations such as the tax assistance centres (CAF).

The negative trend which has been in place in the IT market for Italian companies for several years

continued, posting an additional contraction in the total value of expenditure. According to

forecasts, this market will close 2012 at -4.4% following -4.1% in the previous year (source:

Assinform). Also for the IT market for the public administration (Central Public Administration -

10.8% and Local Public Administration -8%; source Assitel Report 2012), as a result of the

spending review, the negative trend continues, after showing an average annual percentage of -2%

from 2005 to 2011 (source: Osservatorio PA Assinform).

Worthy of mention is the crisis in the construction market, which our offer of products with the

STR brand is addressed to. Surveys conducted by Ance through its Osservatorio delle Costruzioni

predict a 6% drop for the sector in 2012, higher than the -5.3% of 2011, with investments

decreasing by €43 billion and more than three hundred thousand jobs lost.

In the first nine months of 2012, the negative trend in bankruptcies continued, particularly in the

construction sector, affected by over 20% of the bankruptcies registered in Italy (source: Cribis

D&B statistics).

During the period in question, the Software Solutions business unit recorded a 9.3% downturn in

revenue, particularly due to the termination in 2011 of two important contracts with social security

institutions (Inps and Inpdap), which in the reference period are worth €3.2 million. Net of these

two contracts, the contraction in revenue amounts to 3.3%.

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The campaign for the Form 730 tax returns supplied by the tax assistance centres (CAF) through the

applications of Innovare 24 recorded a positive result in the period in question. 4.2 million returns

were processed, against 3.7 million of the same period of the previous year, up by 12%.

In terms of production evolution, the activities continue for the three strategic projects of the

Software Area, based on the use of MS.net technology, which are: SGP.Net – Sistema gestionale per

professionisti, a new line of online tax products which can also be used via Cloud computing, which

will become the Area's single solution for the chartered accountant market; Vision, (the new STR

software written in Microsoft.Net technology, which is progressively replacing the previous

version) and the E.Net project, which will become the management solution for the company

market in the Software Solutions Area, supplementing the versions of Esa and Innovare24.

Tax & Labour products were substantially in line with the first nine months of 2011 (+0.6%),

despite the impact in the same period of the previous year of two one shot tools which cannot be

repeated this year, Redditometro and Registro Operazioni IVA, which were worth about €0.6

million. Revenues from Legal products increased by 13.3%. These two types of products are sold

with the Sole 24ORE brand.

Revenue from STR products decreased by 14.1% compared with the same period of 2011, due to

the considerable slowdown in the closure of commercial negotiations consequently to the crisis of

the construction market mentioned above. The sharp reduction specifically concerned professional

firms and small and medium construction companies, while the Large Accounts segment remained

substantially steady compared to the previous year.

Revenues from Data Ufficio products declined by 38.4% relative to the same period of the previous

year, due to the termination of the two important contracts with social security institutions, Inpdap

and Inps.

Revenues from Esa Software products dropped by 6.1% compared with the same period of 2011

due to both the persisting crisis of small and medium enterprises our range is addressed to and to a

one shot Com3000 product of 2011 that cannot be repeated this year.

RESULTS OF THE SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS AREA (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change


Revenue 46,078 50,790 -9.3%


GOL margin % 7.9% 14.2% -44.3%

Operating profit (loss) (743) 1,540 -148.2%

Training and Events Area

The Training and Events area provides specialist training to young university graduates, managers

and professionals and organises annual conferences and events on a contract basis for large

customers all over Italy. Included in the areas are the operations of the subsidiaries Newton

Management Innovation: a management consulting and training company, and Newton Lab: an

event organising and multimedia content management agency.

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TRAINING AREA REVENUE BY BUSINESS UNIT


Business school 7,047 7,408 -4.9%

Annual Training and Events 1,964 1,558 26.0%

Newton Man. Innov. and Newton Lab products 5,967 6,081 -1.9%

Training for Professionals and SMEs 1,117 868 28.6%

Total 16,094 15,915 1.1%

Revenues from the Training BU, including the revenues of 24 ORE Training, Events and Newton

line, grew by 1.1% over 30 September of the previous year.

Worthy of mention for the Business school is the performance of Part Time Masters (+ 18.5%) as

at 30 September 2012, with 67 specialisation Masters, 3 Executive24 masters in blended formula

for middle management.

The Full Time Masters line recorded revenues dropping by 9.8%, behind when compared with the

same period of the previous year, due to different publishing plans.

Training for Professionals and SME in the first nine months of 2012 recorded revenues growing

by 28.6% compared with the same period of the previous year.

Revenue from the Annual Training and Events BU targeting top management grew by 26.0%

compared to the same period of the previous year, for a total of 10,540 participants as at 30

September 2012. The running of the Azimut Roadshow, Viaggio nel nuovo rinascimento

finanziario, was of particular importance, covering 20 cities and involving over 3,000 participants.

As regards innovative e-learning projects, 1,078 online courses and 97 online Masters were sold in

the period, started and developed during the previous year.

Revenue from Newton Management Innovation and Newton Lab products decreased overall by

1.9% compared to the first nine months of 2011. Newton products posted revenue up by 13.5%,

despite the difficult economic context which resulted in lower margins, though in the presence of a

larger customer base. Newton Lab revenue decreased by 11.9%, due to lower volume deriving from

the organisation of some events.

TRAINING AREA RESULTS (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change

Circulation/other revenue 16,094 15,915 1.1%

Revenue 16,094 15,915 1.1%


GOL margin % 8.6% 12.9% -33.6%

Operating profit (loss) 1,224 1,961 -37.6%

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Radio Area

The Radio Area manages the national radio station Radio24, a news and talk radio with an

editorial format alternating news and entertainment programmes based almost exclusively on

speech. Every week, over 40 different programmes cover all the key areas of public interest,

ranging from national and international news to business and finance; from topics concerning the

home, work and the environment to sport, culture and leisure; and from healthcare to wellbeing.

Every day 19 editions of the radio news, 15 programmes and 12 reports on the financial markets

are held. Daily live hours are 18.

After the liquidation of Audiradio, the company that used to conduct the official survey regarding

audience data, the latest official audience data available is that of the last two months of 2010, when

total radio audience reached 39,981,000 million listeners.

At the start of 2012 AGCOM began technical discussions with national and local publishers and

organisations that represent the market. The aim is to identify a single innovative research

methodology for the radio sector and establish a consortium with all the subjects concerned to

monitor the findings.

In the absence of an official research activity, the GFK Eurisko institute carried out a survey on

listening called Radio Monitor, which was purchased by the main national stations, advertising

sales agencies and media centres.

In September 2012 Radio Monitor published the data concerning the January-July 2012 period. It

should be noted that this survey cannot be compared with the Audiradio findings for two reasons:

- the Radio Monitor survey is based on a sample of population aged 14 and up, unlike

Audiradio, which considers the population from the age of 11.

- the sample was weighted on the basis of the ISTAT data related to the Italian population; the

changed parameters led to shrinking brackets with higher education.

According to the Radio Monitor survey, the total radio audience in the first seven months of 2012

equalled 34,353,000 listeners during an average day, with a difference of almost 5.5 million

listeners compared with Audiradio 2009; this drop is likely to depend on the methodological

differences between the surveys.

The radio advertising market recorded a drop of 7.4% in the first eight months of the year compared

to the same period of 2011 (source Nielsen Media Research January – August 2012).

The second finding of the Eurisko Radio Monitor survey confirms Radio 24 in tenth place in the

nationwide radio standings, with 1,872,000 listeners on an average day.

Radio 24 revenue as at 30 September 2012, amounting to €10.2 million, decreased by 2.5%

compared to the same period of 2011. Marketing revenue grew (29.4%) as a result of the

continuation of projects begun in 2011 with the European Community and the development of new

projects and events.

The period in question closed with advertising revenue of €9.8 million, down by 3.6% and

substantially break-even in terms of seconds. The change is attributable to the contraction in the

advertising market, which is typical of Radio 24 in the summer. The segments most closely related

to the broadcaster, such as Finance and Insurance, IT, Entities and Institutions showed a significant

loss in July and August in terms of total radio seconds and Radio 24 seconds. Overall, the figures

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for the three main segments in the first eight months showed growth in seconds for our broadcaster

(+11.1%) greater than the growth of the total radio market (5.6% source: Nielsen – analysis per

second).

From January to September 2012, the Radio 24 website recorded growth of 67% in the number of

audio files downloaded, amounting to over 8 million. The site unique users also increased by 21%

with about 270,000 average visitors per month (source: Nielsen Site Census). The average pages

viewed in the month were 5,047,500, up by 7.6% compared with 2011.

RADIO AREA RESULTS (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change

Circulation/other revenue 444 343 29.4%


Revenue 10,228 10,491 -2.5%

Gross operating profit (loss) (325) (9) insig.

GOL margin % -3.2% -0.1% insig.

Operating profit (loss) (823) (3,075) 73.3%

Digital Area

The Digital Area manages the Website www.ilsole24ore.com, its on-line paid contents, the

Shopping24 e-commerce channel and the Group’s presence with consumers on tablets and smart

phones, and co-ordinates all the online activities of the various business areas. The company

Fabbrica 24 S.r.l., which operates in the e-commerce segment, is included in the area.

The Internet advertising market grew by +11.0% overall in the first eight months of 2012, with the

display component – the only one where the Group is present – up by +14.7%. This figure becomes

even more worthwhile when compared with the current market trend of the other media (source:

Osservatorio FCP – Assointernet – August 2012).

In the period in question, revenue from the Digital Area grew by 7.0%, relative to the same period

of the previous year. The main growth factors were the good performance of advertising revenue

(+5.1% compared with the same period of 2011), which equals 15.3% net of funds, coupled with

the good results of the sale of digital subscriptions.

In the first nine months of 2012, unique site browsers grew by +49.5%, with a daily average of

535,539 and an 74.5% increase in average daily pages, which reached 4,489,368 (source: Nielsen

Site Census). Worthy of mention is the new record of pages viewed reached in May: 148,899,261.

On 12 September, a new record of pages viewed in a single day was also reached: 8,939,312.

In the period in question, the mobile version of the website grew by 125.3% among average daily

unique browsers and +167.3% of average daily pages (source: Nielsen Site Census). Also

noteworthy is the growth in the presence on various social networks: the Facebook fan page of Il

Sole 24ORE had 150,000 fans, and this number is growing by about 6,000 fans each month. Twitter

followers reached 479,000 thousand at the end of September.

Sales of the e-commerce platform grew by 17.0% in the first nine months of 2012.

Fabbrica24 started operations in February. The first product proposed to the market is Sugarbox, a

subscription commerce service to capture the cosmetic advertising market. An agreement of

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collaboration between Fabbrica24 and Signet was signed in the middle of June for the InnerDesign

platform, through the purchase of 70% of the company by subscription of the share capital increase.

In September, the agreement for purchase of 70% of the software house LambdaGo was finalised.

The first phase of the new edition of Premio WWW was launched in June; a landmark in the Italian

web scene, which used to be organised by Il Sole 24 ORE in the past and was resumed this year

In the first nine months of 2012, a series of new online and device-based products were introduced,

including: the 2012 edition of Telefisco, the Impresa & Territori section, the new channel Moda24

www.ilsole24ore.com/moda24, the English version, direct streaming of the Forum Lavoro 2012,

and the new mobile showcase available on www.applicazioni-mobile.ilsole24ore.com. In

September, the showcase for Sole's products and services was launched, available on

www.ilsole24ore.com/guidesole, which aggregates and organises the entire range of digital

offerings in terms of Regulatory Guides and Guides+ Instant Books.

As at 30 September, the overall number of downloaded applications reached about 695,250.

A new digital newsstand platform of Il Sole 24 ORE became available on 18 January, initially

introduced as the reader application for the daily newspaper.

The digital newsstand uses a new platform called GIOVE (Gestione Integrata Online Vendita ed

Edizione) to integrate the production and distribution of digital products and is used by other Areas

of the Group to publish and distribute products such as add-on products and instant books and

products of the Tax & Legal area. In August, the digital newsstand became available also for

Android tablets.

The reader application was downloaded 408,262 times.

The new e-commerce platform was released in February. The Online Shop was completely

revamped in its design and technology.

New apps were released in the first nine months, including: the free app for Nokia smartphones,

Viaggi di gusto, I Misteri dell’arte, iNorme24, and Cook_inc.

DIGITAL AREA RESULTS (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change


Revenue from advertising 8,033 7,644 5.1%

Revenue 12,821 11,978 7.0%

Gross operating profit (loss) 1,095 999 9.6%

GOL margin % 8.5% 8.3% 2.4%

Operating profit (loss) 1,090 998 9.3%

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Culture Area

This Area includes Group activities in the culture segment, through 24 ORE Cultura S.r.l. and

Alinari 24 ORE S.p.A. Its scope ranges from the planning and staging of art and photography

exhibitions to the intermediation of photographic reproduction rights, the sale of objects and

photographs, the publication of essays (Scheiwiller imprint), art and photographs sold on a

catalogue or contract basis, educational and digital products.

The market the Culture Area operates in can be divided into two segments. The first is exhibitions,

where the cultural events and exhibitions segment is still showing signs of vitality and growth. The

second is the production of books and publishing products, where the 2011 and 2012 trends show

marked difficulties, with a substantial drop in sales and an increase in returns.

In the first nine months of 2012, the Culture area recorded revenues for €9.3 million, increasing

(+72.0%) over the same period of 2011.

Revenue from the exhibition and cultural events line grew. The second exhibition dedicated to

Pixar was launched at Palazzo Te', Mantua, in the first nine months of 2012 (delayed, in the final

stage, by the earthquake emergency), together with the exhibitions dedicated to Mirò (Rome and

Genoa), Marina Abramovic (Milan) and Klimt (Venice, Museo Correr). An important exhibition

dedicated to Picasso opened in September in Milan, Palazzo Reale, in collaboration with the

Picasso Museum of Paris.

In publishing terms, 24 ORE Cultura continued to devise multi-channel projects and encourage

international development through, among others, the launch of mobile platforms for the Minimum

Design application, deriving from the collection of Maestri del Design books and the increasingly

intense synergies with the daily Newspaper on the front of add-on products.

The company Alinari S.p.A. was placed in liquidation in August.

CULTURE AREA RESULTS (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 % Change


Revenue 9,261 5,383 72.0%

Gross operating profit (loss) (3,919) (1,393) -181.4%

GOL margin % -42.3% -25.9% -63.6%

Operating profit (loss) (4,038) (1,492) -170.5%

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SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2012

On 24 February 2012 the Board of Directors of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A. approved the updated 2011-

2013 Business Plan unanimously.

Given a market still facing a slowdown particularly in terms of advertising revenue, the Plan’s

strategic lines are confirmed through the strengthening of the leadership of the 24 ORE Group by

means of innovative actions and a balanced approach to favour the start of a series of new initiatives

aimed at company development while lowering costs.

Despite lower advertising revenue and the uncertain economic situation, the Group expects to

reabsorb the effects of the economic crisis and reach the objective of the 2011-2013 Plan during

2014.

Fabbrica 24 S.r.l. was set up on 20 January 2012. This company is wholly owned by Innovare24

S.p.A. and has been operating in the e-commerce segment starting from April 2012.

The new organisation of the advertising sales agency has been active since January 2012. It enables

a better cost rationalisation than in 2011 and an improved integration of the sales network. The

agency is approaching the market with a unique sales network able to offer communication

opportunities on both off and on line media.

On 14 February 2012 the Board of Directors of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A. appointed by co-option the

director Carlo Ticozzi Valerio to replace Piero Gnudi. The director Carlo Ticozzi Valerio was also

appointed as the Chairman of the Internal Control & Audit Committee.

On 23 April 2012, the Shareholders’ Meeting of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A. approved the financial

statements for the year 2011, resolving not to distribute dividends and fully to cover the loss for the

year of € 10,085,291, by using a matching amount of “Retained earnings”.

The same meeting appointed Mr. Claudio Costamagna, who had been co-opted by the Board of

Directors of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A. on 10 May 2011 and also appointed Mr. Carlo Ticozzi Valerio

as director, who had been co-opted by the Board of Directors of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A. on 14

February 2012.

Since April 2012, the ADS moving average for the twelve months is no longer communicated, but

only the monthly data (the only data available refers to the months of April and May) and,

therefore, the comparison with the previous period is no longer homogenous. In this new context,

the ADS average of the eight main paid dailies (source: ADS) grew by 0.9% between May and

April.

Business Media Web S.r.l. was put into liquidation on 26 April 2012 due to the decline of SAIE, the

main trade show in Bologna, from which Business Media Web obtained most of its revenues.

On 4 June 2012, in the absence of an official research activity, the GFK Eurisko institute carried out

a radio audience survey called Radio Monitor, which was purchased by the main national stations,

advertising sales agencies and media centres, and presented its results. In the radio audience data

survey, Radio 24 ranked among the top ten most listened to national radio stations with 1,903,000

listeners and a loyalty of 41% (amongst the highest recorded).

On 13 June 2012 the company Signet S.r.l. was acquired by agreeing to the capital increase. The

investment was equal to €147 thousand. 70% of the company is owned by Fabbrica 24 S.r.l. and it

manages the www.innerdesign.com portal.

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In June Il Sole 24 ORE launched an initiative to establish an initial fund for the requalification of

technical colleges in the Emilia region that were mostly hit by the earthquake. The initiative was

successful, also thanks to the contribution of its advertisers, which participated in it by subscribing

advertising in the newspaper for the days of 2 and 3 June.

On 24 July 2012 Giampaolo Galli resigned from the office of non-executive Director of Il Sole 24

ORE S.p.A. with immediate effect. Mr. Galli did not belong to any company committee and did not

qualify as Independent Director.

On 26 July 2012, control over Diamante S.p.A. was acquired following the purchase by Innovare24

S.p.A. of 45.015% of the capital. From that date, the Group owns 75.015%.

The disbursement equalled €1,200 thousand and is to be added to the 30% value recorded, equal to

€1,180 thousand. The framework agreement envisages the progressive purchase of the remaining

share, by the time the financial statements 2015 are approved, at a price that varies according to the

results of the 2013 – 2015 three-year period. The value of the assets and the acquired goodwill are

being determined.

The purchase was aimed at supplementing the range of the Software Solutions area to develop the

Group’s Cloud computing platform.

On 31 July 2012, director Marcella Panucci was appointed by co-option, to replace Giampaolo Galli.

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EVENTS AFTER 30 SEPTEMBER 2012

On 4 October 2012, the meeting of the Board of Directors of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A. approved an

action plan that envisages initiatives in excess of €100 million over the next three years, which

include operational recovery measures and a multimedia development plan aimed at enhancing both

the print and digital information contents which are the assets of the daily newspaper and the

Group. The action plan is proceeding according to the schedule disclosed by the Board of Directors,

both in terms of cost reduction and acceleration of digital development.

The Board also approved the contribution of the Software Solutions business unit of Sole 24 ORE

S.p.A. to the subsidiary Innovare 24 S.p.A. The Software Solutions unit comprising the contribution

includes the 29.96% investment in ESA Software S.p.A., the 30% investment in Diamante S.p.A.

and the business operations that deal with the production, marketing, and provision of technical

assistance for management software products developed for certified accountants, bookkeepers,

labour consultants, lawyers and small businesses. Innovare24 S.p.A. will increase its share capital,

receiving in exchange the contribution of the Software Solutions business unit of Il Sole 24 ORE

S.p.A. by the end of financial year 2012. For accounting and taxation purposes, the effects of the

mentioned merger will apply starting from 1 January 2012.

These operations are carried out with the aim of bringing under Innovare 24 S.p.A., as sole special

purpose vehicle wholly-owned by Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A., all of the Group's units operating in the

software solutions field, thus facilitating the process of operational integration and business

development.

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Highlights of income statement

HIGHLIGHTS OF CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT (in thousands of euro)

Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011

Revenue from sales and services (1) 315,856 338,541

Other operating income 5,102 5,649

Personnel expense (2) (117,534) (123,526)

Change in inventories 2,606 2,037

Purchase of raw materials and consumables (22,783) (21,360)

Services (164,837) (159,157)

Other operating costs (32,846) (29,608)

Provisions and allowances for impairment (5,604) (6,958)

Gross operating profit (loss) (3) (20,040) 5,616

Depreciation, amortisation and impairment losses (15,919) (20,402)

Gains/losses on disposal of intangible assets and property, plant and equipment 1,017 327

Operating profit (loss) (4) (34,942) (14,458)

Financial income (expenses) (5) (19) 1,128

Income (expenses) from investments (184) (63)

Profit (loss) before tax (35,145) (13,394)

Income taxes (6) 11,627 (361)

Profit (loss) from continuing operations (23,518) (13,755)

Profit (loss) from discontinued operations - 1,247

Profit (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests (862) (56)


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Statement of financial position

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION (in thousands of euro) Note 30.09.2012 31.12.2011

ASSETS

Non-current assets

Property, plant and equipment 73,018 77,547

Goodwill 77,543 73,474

Intangible assets 88,261 85,673

Investments in associates and joint ventures 834 2,291

Available-for-sale financial assets 1,186 1,171

Other non-current financial assets 753 20,411

Other non-current assets 868 854

Deferred tax assets 63,733 47,222

Total (7) 306,195 308,643

Current assets

Inventories 15,074 12,469

Trade receivables 135,900 188,214

Other receivables 11,022 8,503

Other current assets 7,369 6,279

Cash and cash equivalents 36,282 31,431

Total (8) 205,647 246,894

Assets held for sale - -

TOTAL ASSETS 511,842 555,537

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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION (cont.) (in thousands of euro) Note 30.09.2012 31.12.2011

EQUITY AND LIABILITIES

Equity

Equity attributable to owners of the parent

Share capital 35,124 35,124

Equity reserves 180,316 180,316

Revaluation reserves 20,561 20,561

Hedging and translation reserves (223) (229)

Other reserves 23,785 25,025

Retained earnings (Loss brought forward) (12,857) (4,491)


Total (9) 224,051 247,940

Equity attributable to non-controlling interests

Capital and reserves attributable to non-controlling interests 165 342

Profit (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests (862) (25)

Total (9) (697) 317

Total equity (9) 223,354 248,257

Non-current liabilities

Non-current financial liabilities 4,816 5,916

Employee benefit obligations 33,922 31,977

Deferred tax liabilities 16,505 16,055

Provisions for risks and charges 12,696 13,220

Other non-current liabilities 3,634 34

Total (10) 71,573 67,202

Current liabilities

Bank overdrafts and loans - due within one year 3,191 2,764

Financial liabilities held for trading 308 317

Trade payables 150,618 161,711

Other current liabilities 14,464 9,792

Other payables 48,334 65,494

Total (11) 216,915 240,078

Liabilities held for sale - -

Total liabilities 288,488 307,280

TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 511,842 555,537

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Statement of cash flows

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS (in thousands of euro) Note Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011

A) CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES


Adjustments for:

Loss from discontinued operations - (1,247)

Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 7,804 8,099

Amortisation of other intangible assets 8,114 12,303

Impairment losses on non-current assets 175 (63)

(Gain) loss on sale of property, plant and equipment (15) (325)

(Gain) loss on sale of intangible assets (2) (2)

(Gain) loss on sale of business units (1,000) (0)

(Gain) loss on sale of investments in associates (1) 176

(Gain) loss on sale of available-for-sale financial assets - (50)

Increase (decrease) in provisions for risks and charges (525) (2,156)

Increase (decrease) in employee benefits 1,696 (4,601)

Increase (decrease) in deferred tax assets/liabilities (17,420) (3,287)

Annual instalment of substitute tax 781 136

Entry in the income statement of the effects of acquisitions 14 -

Net financial (income) expenses 29 (1,128)

Cash flows from (used in) discontinued operations prior to change in net working capital - (187)

Cash flows used in operating activities prior to change in net working capital (23,005) (4,784)

(Increase) decrease in inventories (2,606) (2,037)

(Increase) decrease in trade receivables 52,774 1,416

Increase (decrease) in trade payables (11,094) (9,138)

Income taxes paid (2,672) (912)

(Increase) decrease in other assets/liabilities (14,552) (11,686)

Changes in discontinued operations - (51)

Changes in net working capital 21,851 (22,408)

TOT. NET CASH FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS

(1,154) (26,954)

TOT. NET CASH FROM DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS - (238)

TOT. NET CASH FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES (A) (12) (1,154) (27,192)

24 ORE GROUP


31

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS (CONT.) (in thousands of euro) Note Jan-Sept.

2012 Jan-Sept.

2011 B) CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES

Proceeds on sale of associates 1 1

Proceeds on sale of property, plant and equipment 55 421

Proceeds on sale of intangible assets 7 2

Proceeds on sale of business units 1,000 2,210

Proceeds on sale of available-for-sale financial assets - 57

Investments in property, plant and equipment (3,217) (2,470)

Investments in intangible assets (5,568) (4,157)

Other changes in property, plant and equipment 5 10

Other changes in intangible assets (4) 20

Other increases in goodwill (1,519) -

Purchase of investments in subsidiaries (1,288) (531)

Other decreases (increases) in investments in associates - 63

Other decreases (increases) in other non-current assets and liabilities (6) 249

Purchases of available-for-sale financial assets (15) (0)

Changes in discontinued operations - (102)

TOT. NET CASH USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES (B) (10,550) (4,227)

FREE CASH FLOW CONTINUING OPERATIONS (11,703) (31,079)

FREE CASH FLOW DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS - (340)

FREE CASH FLOW (A + B) (12) (11,703) (31,419)

C) CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES

Dividends paid (204) (128)

Raising (repayment) of medium/long-term bank loans (1,100) (1,124)

Change in other non-current financial assets 19,570 (428)

Change in financial assets/liabilities held for trading (9) (147)

Net financial interest received (29) 1,128

Change in equity attributable to non-controlling interests (867) 122

Other changes in reserves (1,234) 195

TOT. NET CASH USED IN FINANCING ACTIVITIES (C) 16,127 (383)

NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS (A+B+C) 4,424 (31,801)

OPENING CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS

28,667 73,629

CLOSING CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS (12)

33,091 41,828

INCREASE (DECREASE) FOR THE YEAR 4,424 (31,801)

24 ORE GROUP


32

Net financial position

NET FINANCIAL POSITION (in thousands of euro) Note 30.09.2012 31.12.2011

Cash and cash equivalents 36,282 31,431

Bank overdrafts and loans - due within one year (3,191) (2,764)

Short-term net financial position 33,091 28,667

Non-current financial liabilities (4,816) (5,916)

Non-current financial assets - 19,657

Fair value changes in financial hedging instruments (308) (317)

Medium-long term net financial position (5,124) 13,424

Net financial position (13) 27,967 42,091

24 ORE GROUP


33

COMMENTARY

General information

The share capital of the Parent totals €35,123,787, represented by 90,000,000 ordinary shares and

43,333,213 special class shares. Their breakdown is as follows:

- 90,000,000 ordinary shares owned by Confindustria, accounting for 67.5% of all shares;

- 40,031,186 special-class shares listed on the Milan Bourse screen-based equity market

(MTA – Mercato Telematico Azionario) of Borsa Italiana S.p.A. in the Standard segment

(Class 1), accounting for 30.0% of all shares.

- 3,302,027 special-class treasury shares, accounting for 2.5% of all shares.

The company By-laws contain provisions whereby the controlling shareholders of the Issuer may

not be changed. In particular, in accordance with Article 8 of the By-laws, shareholders may not

hold more special-class shares than those that represent one fiftieth of the share capital plus one

share, with the exception of the Issuer that owns them as treasury shares.

Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A. special-class stock is currently listed in the Standard (Class 1) segment on

the MTA of Borsa Italiana S.p.A.

The stock identification codes are:

STOCK IDENTIFICATION CODES

Name Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A.

ISIN IT0004269723

Alphanumerical code S24.MI

Reuters code S24.MI

Bloomberg code S24 IM

The companies included in the scope of consolidation at 30 September 2012 were:

- Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A., the Parent Company, which acts both as the holding company for

majority investments in Group companies, and as an operating company, by performing

core business activities (general, financial and professional news and information, press

agency, etc.).

- Innovare24 S.p.A., specialised in software solutions and IT services for public

administration and construction industry professionals;

- Nuova Radio S.p.A., the broadcaster of Radio24, a news & talk radio station.

- Il Sole 24 ORE UK Ltd., which mediates for the sale of advertising space in the United

Kingdom.

- 24 ORE Cultura S.r.l., specialised in products dedicated to art and photography and in the

organisation of shows and events.

- Alinari 24 ORE S.p.A in liquidation.

- Shopping 24 S.r.l., which is an e-commerce and online marketing company.

- Newton Management Innovation S.p.A., a company active in training services.

24 ORE GROUP


34

- Business Media Web S.r.l. in liquidation.

- Newton Lab S.r.l., a company active in training services. The company is indirectly

controlled through Newton Management Innovation S.p.A.

- Esa Software S.p.A., a company active in management software for small and medium

enterprises and for professionals. The company is indirectly controlled through Innovare 24

S.p.A.

- Fabbrica24 S.r.l., active in the e-commerce sector. The company is indirectly controlled

through Innovare 24 S.p.A.

- Signet S.r.l., specialised in the design, production, management and distribution of

multimedia products and contents. The company is indirectly controlled through Fabbrica

24 S.r.l.

- Lambdago S.r.l., specialising in the design, creation, development and marketing of

software programs and internet sites. The company is indirectly controlled through Fabbrica

24 S.r.l.

On 1 July 2011 the Group finalised the sale of the Real Time Financial Reporting Business Unit.

From this date, the scope of consolidation no longer includes this business. In application of IFRS 5

– Non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations, the balances of the income statement

of 2011 were adjusted compared with those originally published, to reclassify the balances

regarding the Real Time Financial Reporting Business Unit under item Profit (loss) from

discontinued operations.

On 1 January 2012 Innovare 24 S.p.A. merged with its wholly owned subsidiary Softlab S.r.l. The

merged company was already wholly owned and included in the scope of consolidation at 31

December 2011. This operation did not alter the Group’s scope of consolidation.

Compared with the latest financial statements approved, the following changes to the scope of

consolidation took place:

- Fabbrica 24 S.r.l. was set up on 20 January 2012. This company is wholly owned by

Innovare24 S.p.A. and is operational in the e-commerce segment starting from April.

- On 13 June 2012 Fabbrica 24 S.r.l. agreed on increasing the capital of the company Signet

S.r.l. for an amount equal to €147,000 thus holding 70% of the share capital of Signet S.r.l.

and acquiring control over it.

- On 24 September 2012 Fabbrica 24 S.r.l. acquired 70% of the share capital of Lambdago

S.r.l. for an amount equal to €7,000, thus acquiring control over it.

The registered and administrative offices of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A. are located at Via Monte Rosa

91, Milan, Italy. Confindustria (the Confederation of Italian Industry) controls the parent.

Format, content, and accounting standards adopted

The interim management statement for the period ended on 30 September 2012 was prepared on the

assumption that the Company is operated on a going concern basis and in accordance with the

recognition and measurement criteria set out in International Accounting Standards (IAS/IFRS),

consistently with those used to prepare the last financial statements.

24 ORE GROUP


35

The interim management statement was prepared pursuant to art. 154-ter of Italian Legislative

Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998, introduced pursuant to art. 1 of Italian Legislative Decree no.

195 of 6 November 2007.

The interim management statement was not subject to audit.

The financial statements presented include:

1. Consolidated income statement for the first nine months of 2012, with comparison data

for the same period of 2011. This income statement is in abridged form, grouping

revenue items with respect to the financial statements as at 31 December 2011, details of

which are provided in the related notes;

2. Consolidated statement of financial position as at 30 September 2012, with comparison

data from the latest approved financial statements;

3. Statement of cash flows for the first nine months of 2012, with comparison data for the

same period of 2011;

4. Net financial position as at 30 September 2012, with breakdown of assets and liabilities

into short-term or medium-term components and with comparison data from the latest

approved financial statements.

Lastly, note that the consolidated interim results of the 24 ORE Group are affected by seasonal

elements, particularly with regard to sales of the daily newspaper, advertising revenue and the

performance of the professional publishing segment. Such seasonality is particularly felt in the

second and third quarter of the year, which historically record the best and worst figures of the

calendar year.

The following section provides an illustration of the financial statements, with an indication of the

most significant changes and related causes for the most important items.

24 ORE GROUP


36

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Income Statement

(1) Revenue

Revenue totalled €315,856 thousand, down €22,684 thousand on the same period of the previous

year, i.e. -6.7%, due mainly to the drop in advertising revenue, magazines and books.

IL SOLE 24 ORE GROUP REVENUE - BREAKDOWN BY TYPE (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 Change % Change

Advertising 107,273 123,349 (16,076) -13.0%

Daily newspapers 51,253 53,208 (1,955) -3.7%

Magazines 32,260 36,799 (4,539) -12.3%

Software 42,922 47,355 (4,433) -9.4%

Electronic publishing 26,779 25,672 1,108 4.3%

IT services 10,190 7,633 2,557 33.5%

Add-ons 5,918 6,156 (238) -3.9%

Books 6,500 9,483 (2,983) -31.5%

Conferences and Training 15,812 16,275 (464) -2.8%

Other products and services 16,949 12,610 4,338 34.4%

Total 315,856 338,541 (22,684) -6.7%

The breakdown by operating segment is provided below.

REVENUE BY OPERATING SEGMENT (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 Change % Change

Publishing 140,462 155,885 (15,423) -9.9%

System 93,342 106,652 (13,310) -12.5%

Training 16,094 15,915 179 1.1%

Tax & Legal 57,906 62,772 (4,866) -7.8%

Software solutions 46,078 50,790 (4,712) -9.3%

Radio 10,228 10,491 (263) -2.5%

Culture 9,261 5,383 3,878 72.0%

Digital 12,821 11,978 843 7.0%

Event Management 461 402 59 14.6%

Eliminations (70,798) (81,727) 10,930 13.4%

Group (Consolidated) 315,856 338,541 (22,684) -6.7%

24 ORE GROUP


37

(2) Personnel

Personnel expense was €117,534 thousand, compared to €123,526 thousand for the same period last

year.

The improvement of €5,992 thousand (4.9%) was mainly due to the staff cutbacks. Employees as at

30 September 2012 were 1,890, compared with 1,942 as at 30 September 2011.

The number of employees by category is as follows:

AVERAGE HEADCOUNT OF 24 ORE GROUP Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 AVERAGE HEADCOUNT Number % Number %

Managers 81.6 4.4% 90.7 4.6%

Journalists 398.0 21.4% 416.7 21.0%

White Collars 1,268.0 68.2% 1,352.3 68.1%

Blue-collars 110.3 5.9% 126.6 6.4%

Total 1,857.9 100.0% 1,986.2 100.0%

(3) Gross operating profit (loss)

The interim result of gross operating profit (GOP) before depreciation and amortisation, impairment

losses on fixed assets and capital gains/losses from asset disposals, was negative at €20,040

thousand, worsening by €25,656 thousand on the same period of the previous year.

The change in GOP is mainly attributable, in addition to the performance of revenues and personnel

expense as mentioned above, also to the increase in the costs for services equalling €5,680 thousand

(+3.6%). In particular:

- distribution costs rose by €2,566 thousand (9.5%) due to higher distribution charges

calculated on the new cover price, greater volumes (add-on products and number of pages)

and the increasing postal rates (+15.2% basic tariff and +24% Saturday tariff);

- costs for exhibitions and fairs rose by €4,417 million in connection with the rise in revenues

from exhibitions;

- commissions and other sales costs dropped by 13.2% consequently to the performance of

advertising revenue and the rationalisation of sales structures;

Furthermore, concerning raw materials and consumables, costs rose by €854 thousand compared to

30 September 2011.

(4) Operating profit (loss)

The operating loss was €34,942 thousand, down by €20,484 thousand compared to the same period

of the previous year.

The total depreciation, amortisation and impairment losses for the first nine months of 2012 were

€15,919 thousand, down €4,483 thousand on the same period in 2011, of which €2,609 thousand

due to the radio frequencies being attributed an indefinite useful life, which means they can no

longer be amortised.

(5) Financial income (expenses)

Net financial expenses amounted to €19 thousand and are broken down as follows:

24 ORE GROUP


38

FINANCIAL INCOME (EXPENSES) (in thousands of euro) Jan-Sept. 2012 Jan-Sept. 2011 Change % Change Financial income from investment of surplus cash 336 1,162 (826) -71.1%

Other financial income 114 165 (51) -30.9%

Foreign exchange gains 7 26 (19) -74.2%

Total income 457 1,353 (896) -66.2%

Foreign exchange losses (36) (30) (6) -20.1%

Financial expenses on short-term borrowings (63) (25) (38) -154.5%

Financial expenses on medium-/long-term borrowings (44) (3) (41) -1,310.3%

Other financial expenses (334) (168) (166) -98.9%

Total expenses (476) (225) (251) -111.4%

Total (19) 1,128 (1,147) -101.7%

The decrease in net financial income is mainly due to the lower cash resources of the period relative

to the previous year.

(6) Income taxes

Income taxes are calculated using the rate expected to be applied at the end of the year.

Net taxes posted a credit of €11,627 thousand, due to the recording of deferred tax assets for IRES

on the loss, and the income from the realignments recorded for €3,514 thousand. IRAP tax had a

negative impact on taxes, as it is calculated on a taxable base including the cost of labour, among

other costs.

24 ORE GROUP


39

Statement of financial position

The statement of financial position can be summarised in the following items:

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

(in thousands of euro) 30.09.2012 31.12.2011

Non-current assets 306,195 308,643

Current assets 205,647 246,894

Total assets 511,842 555,537

Equity attributable to owners of the parent 224,051 247,940

Equity attributable to non-controlling interests (697) 317

Total equity 223,354 248,257

Non-current liabilities 71,573 67,202

Current liabilities 216,915 240,078

Total liabilities 288,488 307,280

Total equity and liabilities 511,842 555,537

(7) Non-current assets

Non-current assets decreased from €308,643 thousand to €306,195 thousand (- €2,448 thousand

compared to 31 December 2011), largely due to the change in non-current financial assets, which

dropped from €20,411 thousand to €753 thousand as at 30 September 2012, down by €19,657

thousand consequently to the early extinction of the insurance policy entered into with Monte

Paschi Vita.

Property, plant, equipment and intangible assets decreased by €1,942 thousand due to the

amortisation of intangible assets and depreciation of property, plant and equipment for €15,919

thousand, partially offset by investments, for €8,785 thousand overall.

The changes in property, plant, equipment and intangible assets as at 30 September 2012 were as

follows:

PROPERTY, PLANT, EQUIPMENT AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

(in thousands of euro) Opening balance Purchases Disposals

Amortisation

and depreciation

Reclassifications

and other changes

Changes in consolidated companies

Closing balance

Property, plant and equipment 77,547 3,217 (39) (7,805) (10) 108 73,018

Intangible assets 85,673 5,568 (6) (8,114) 10 5,129 88,261

Total 163,220 8,785 (45) (15,919) - 5,237 161,278

Investments in intangible assets amounted to €5,568 thousand and refer mainly to software for

management and administration systems.

The investments in property, plant and equipment totalled €3,217 thousand and relate mainly to

hardware, production plants at factories and leased properties.

The changes in the scope of consolidation, amounting to €5,237 thousand, are the result of the

acquisitions of Diamante S.p.A. and Signet S.r.l. during the year.

24 ORE GROUP


40

Depreciation of property, plant and equipment and amortisation of intangible assets amounted to

€15,919 thousand, calculated in relation to their estimated useful life, which did not change

compared to the latest approved financial statements. Depreciation commences from the start of

use.

The goodwill recognised in the consolidated financial statements amounted to €77,543 thousand, an

increase of €4,068 thousand compared to 31 December 2011, due to the increase of €1,519

thousand for the purchase price adjustment of Data Ufficio, acquired in 2007 and merged into

Innovare24 S.p.A. in 2010, and the increase of €2,550 thousand for the acquisition of Diamante

S.p.A.

The increase in deferred tax assets and liabilities of €16,511 thousand refers to the realignment of

goodwill recorded at the time of previous mergers for €6,118 thousand.

(8) Current assets

Current assets decreased by €41,248 thousand compared to 31 December 2011. Trade receivables

and prepaid expenses decreased by €51,224 thousand, mainly due to the decrease in sales and the

improvement in average collection days.

24 ORE GROUP


41

(9) Equity

The equity of the Group totalled €223,354 thousand, recording a decrease compared to the financial

statements as at 31 December 2011 due to the following changes:

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

(in thousands of euro) Share capital

Equity reserves

Revaluation reserves

Hedging and

translation reserves

Other reserves

Retained earnings/Loss

brought forward

Profit (loss) for the period

Equity attributable

to owners of the parent

Equity attributable

to non-controlling

interests

Total equity

Balance at 31 December 2011 35,124 180,316 20,561 (229) 25,025 (4,491) (8,366) 247,940 317 248,257

Income/expenses recognised directly in equity Reserve for post-employment benefits for IFRS adjustment - - - - (1,711) - - (1,711) (6) (1,717)

Fair value changes in hedging instruments - - - 8 - - - 8 - 8

Fair value of stock granting - - - - - - - - - -

Taxes on expenses and income recognised in equity - - - (2) 471 - - 469 1 470

Income/expenses recognised directly in equity - - - 6 (1,240) - - (1,234) (5) (1,239)

Profit (loss) for the year - - - - - - (22,655) (22,655) (862) (23,517)

Total income/expenses allocated in the year - - - 6 (1,240) - (22,655) (23,889) (867) (24,756)

Change in the 2011 profit (loss) - - - - - (8,366) 8,366 - - -

Dividends - - - - - - - - (204) (204)

Change in reserves - - - - - - - - - -

Change in % held of investments - - - - - - - - 57 57

Other changes - - - - - - - - - - Balance at 30 September 2012 35,124 180,316 20,561 (223) 23,785 (12,857) (22,655) 224,051 (697) 223,354

(10) Non-current liabilities

Non-current liabilities rose from €67,202 thousand to €71,573 thousand. The increase is mainly due

to the rise in other non-current assets of €3,600 thousand, and refers to the liability for the

acquisition of Diamante S.p.A., for the estimate of the price for the acquisition of 25% of the

interest, linked to the achievement of gross operating profit targets set for 2013 – 2015.

(11) Current liabilities

Current liabilities rose from €240,078 thousand to €216,915 thousand. The decrease is mainly

attributable to reduction in other payables, for €17,160 thousand (26.2%) and in trade payables, for

€11,093 thousand (6.9%). Other payables include payables to personnel for reorganisation, which

decreased by €7,202 thousand in the first nine months of 2012, from €11,792 thousand as at 31

December 2011 to 4,590 thousand as at 30 September 2012.

24 ORE GROUP


42

(12) Statement of cash flows

Total cash flows were positive for €4.4 million, marking an improvement of €36.2 million from

cash flow in the same period of 2011 (negative for €31.8 million).

Cash flows from operating activities were negative for €1.2 million, lower than those in the

previous year, which were negative for €27.2 million. This result is due to the positive performance

of net working capital for €21.9 million, mainly attributable to the decrease in trade receivables,

which offset the negative cash flow from ordinary operations for €23.0 million.

Cash flows from investing activities were negative at €10.5 million, consisting mainly of

operating investments. As at 30 September 2011, this amount was a negative €4.2 million.

Cash flows from financing activities were positive at €16.1 million. The most significant changes

refer to the extinction of the life insurance police taken out with MPS for €19.6 million and the

repayment of medium to long-term loans for €1.1 million.

(13) Net financial position

The net financial position decreased from €42.1 million at 31 December 2011 to €28.0 million at

30 September 2012. Cash and cash equivalents increased in connection with the liquidity deriving

from the extinction of the MPS life insurance policy and the trend of cash flows already mentioned

in the Statement of cash flows. Medium-long term indebtedness decreased, upon repayment of the

amount due during the period for subsidised loans.

24 ORE GROUP


43

OUTLOOK FOR THE YEAR

The difficulties in the economy are continuing and worsening, as evidenced by the decline in the

Italian gross domestic product for 2012, and the publishing sector. In this context, Group gross

operating profit is expected to decrease compared with the one recorded in 2011.

The Group has already started to revise the Business Plan - which includes the action plan approved

on 4 October - to make it compatible with a continuously contracting reference market, by

leveraging the notability of the Sole 24 Ore brand, which is expressed in all of its media and

information contents.

Milan, 12 November 2012

The Chairman of the Board of Directors

GIANCARLO CERUTTI

(original signed)

24 ORE GROUP


44

Declaration pursuant to art. 154-bis, paragraph 2, Italian legislative decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998, as amended

The Corporate Financial Reporting Manager, Massimo Luca Arioli, hereby certifies that the

economic and financial data in this interim management statement is consistent with the corporate

books and accounting records.

Milan, 12 November 2012

Corporate financial reporting manager

Massimo Luca ARIOLI

(original signed)

Documents

INTERIM FINANCIAL REPORT AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2012 · 2016. 4. 15. · AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2012 . 24 ORE GROUP INTERIM FINANCIAL REPORT SEPTEMBER 2012 2 C ... Appointed on 14 February