Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A.: BoD approves Half - Year Financial Report at 30 June 2021

Press Release

Pursuant to CONSOB Resolution 11971/99 as subsequently amended and supplemented

Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A.:

BoD approves Half - Year Financial Report

at 30 June 2021

First half 2021 results close better than same period of 2020, thanks to the growth in revenue amid an improved pandemic context, high quality content, the launch of the new format of the Daily, strong advertising sales and continued product development

Consolidated highlights of the 24 ORE Group:

• Positive EBITDA of € 7.3 million (positive € 3.7 million at 30 June 2020)
• Negative EBIT of € 1.1 million (negative € 4.5 million at 30 June 2020)
• Loss of € 3.3 million (negative € 5.3 million at 30 June 2020)

Consolidated highlights of the 24 ORE Group net of non-recurring expense and income:

• Positive EBITDA of € 6.6 million (positive € 2.1 million at 30 June 2020)
• Negative EBIT of € 1.1 million (negative € 6.6 million at 30 June 2020)
• Loss of € 3.4 million (negative € 7.0 million at 30 June 2020)

Negative net financial position of €57.4 million versus a negative € 50.9 million at 31 December 2020, due mainly to cash flows from investing activities and payment of non-recurring expense related to voluntary redundancies settled during the period

Consolidated equity of € 32.0 million versus € 35.3 million at 31 December 2020

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Milan, 30 July 2021 - Today, the meeting of the Board of Directors of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A., chaired by Edoardo Garrone, approved the Half-year financial report at 30 June 2021 of the 24 ORE Group.

Financial highlights of the 24 ORE Group

The 24 ORE Group closed first half 2021 with a positive EBITDA of € 7.3 million, a negative EBIT of € 1.1 million and a net loss of € 3.3 million. Consolidated equity amounted to € 32.0 million, € 3.3 million lower than consolidated equity of € 35.3 million at 31 December 2020.

The key financial figures of the Group at 30 June 2021, drawn from the consolidated financial statements are as follows:

MAIN CONSOLIDATED FIGURES OF THE 24 ORE GROUP

€ millions	1H 2021	1H 2020
Revenue	96.8	88.2
Gross operating profit (EBITDA)	7.3	3.7
Operating profit (loss) (EBIT)	(1.1)	(4.5)
Pre-tax profit (loss)	(2.5)	(5.4)
Profit (loss) of the period	(3.3)	(5.3)
	30.06.2021	31.12.2020
Non-current assets	142.4	146.7
Current assets	122.1	127.7
Total assets	264.5	274.4
Equity attributable to owners of the parent	32.0	35.3
Equity attributable to non-controlling interests	-	-
Total equity	32.0	35.3
Non-current liabilities	110.8	112.9
Current liabilities	121.7	126.1
Total liabilities	232.5	239.1
Total equity and liabilities	264.5	274.4

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Market environment

Starting from the second half of February 2020, the market has been affected by the Covid-19 health emergency and the spread of the virus; since March 2021 however, there have been signs of growth brought by the improved pandemic context and an increased confidence in the recovery that are driving the market as a whole.

ADS figures of the main national newspapers show a -4.1% drop in total circulation of print+digital copies for the period January-May 2021 versus the same period of 2020. The trend is attributable to the -9.9% decline in circulation of the print version, partly offset by the +13.7% increase in digital circulation (ADS January-May2021).

The latest radio audience figures refer to first half 2021 and indicate a total of 33,216,000 listeners on average day, down by 4.6% versus first half 2019 (RadioTer 2019-2021); the figures for the first half of the year and for 2020 are unavailable owing to the temporary interruption of surveys by research institutes due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The relevant market for the Group's advertising sales closed the first five months of 2021 up by +15.4% (net of local newspaper advertising), thus reflecting the first signs of recovery after more than a year negatively affected by the Covid-19 health emergency: newspapers ended at +7.5% (net of local), magazines at -2.9%, radio at +22.1% and Internet at +27.2% (Nielsen January/May 2021).

2021 continues to loom large as a challenging year for professional publishing players, owing to the long wave triggered by the ongoing Covid-19 health emergency, which will affect the areas in which the clients of professionals, the main target market (accountants and lawyers in particular), operate. According to Confcommercio, which processed Movimprese Unioncamere data, more than 300 thousand businesses were forced to close in 2020 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, forecasts on the self-employed population, whether registered in associations or not, indicate the shutdown of business for approximately 200 thousand professionals from professional, scientific, technical, administrative, services and other areas.

Estimates show a drop for tax publishing (-2.4%) and for the legal area (-2.1%), affected by the lower earnings of professionals, who will suffer the long wave of the crisis triggered in 2020, due to the Covid-19 related effects of the restrictive measures on business activities, therefore on their client base.

In terms of media, 2021 seems not to show any change in the current trends: overall, electronic publishing will continue to grow (+1.8%), driven by online and digital content (+3.2%), while offline will continue along its strong downward path (-60%). Management software is expected to slow down growth (+3.7%), which will see digital editorial content increasingly integrate with management software (Source: "Databank Rapporto Editoria Professionale"- Cerved S.p.A., December 2020).

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Consolidated results at 30 June 2021

Financial highlights of the 24 ORE Group net of non-recurring expense and income

The key financial figures (net of non-recurring expense and income) of the Group at 30 June

2021 are shown below:

MAIN CONSOLIDATED FIGURES OF THE 24 ORE GROUP NET OF NON RECURRING CHARGES

€ millions	1H 2021	1H 2020
Revenue	96.8	88.2
EBITDA net of non recurring income	6.6	2.1
EBIT net of non recurring income	(1.1)	(6.1)
Pre-tax profit (loss) net of non recurring income	(2.5)	(7.0)
Net profit (loss) net of non recurring income	(3.4)	(7.0)
	30.06.2021	31.12.2020
Equity	32.0	35.3
Net financial position	(57.4)	(50.9)

Revenue trend

In first half 2021, the 24 ORE Group, while still feeling the brunt of the Covid-19 health emergency which started in March 2020, witnessed signs of growth thanks both to the improvement in the pandemic context and an increasing confidence in the recovery, which are driving the market as a whole, and to the authority, high quality content, the launch of the new format of the Daily, the good performance of advertising sales, the continued development of products in the Tax & Legal area, the acceleration of the Events area and the effective business policies across all areas. The 24 ORE Group achieved consolidated revenue of € 96.8 million versus € 88.2 million in first half 2020, up by € 8.6 million (+9.7%).

Specifically, in first half 2021 publishing revenue grew by € 0.7 million (+1.3% from € 50.8 to € 51.4 million), driven by the growth of revenue from digital subscriptions to the Daily, the website www.ilsole24ore.com, Tax & Legal products, from add-ons to books, which offset the decline in revenue from the print newspaper and the sale of magazines. Advertising revenue grew by € 6.6 million or by 20.1% versus the first half of the prior year and amounted to €

39.7 million, other revenue was up by € 1.3 million (+29.5% from € 4.4 to € 5.7 million), thanks mainly to the development of new initiatives in the Tax & Legal area. Revenue from the Tax & Legal area was on the rise versus first half 2020.

The Covid-19 health emergency impacted negatively on sales made on an ongoing basis to the business sectors that have suffered the effects of the lockdown and the restrictive measures. On the other hand, the digital version of the Daily saw a sharp rise in the number of new subscriptions, with an increase in circulation versus the pre-Covid-19 period.

In first half 2021, the ilsole24ore.com portal recorded a daily average of 1.5 million unique browsers, down by 31.4% versus the average for the same period of 2020 (Mapp Intelligence

• ex Webtrekk). The result was affected by the comparison with 2020 which, starting from

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March, shows figures that are not directly comparable; that same month, in fact, had achieved an all-time record with 3.77 million average daily unique browsers, +281.4% versus the same period of the prior year, due to the spread of the Covid-19 emergency which continued in the following months. Videos followed the same downward trend, with average monthly views for the first half of the year down by 21.9% versus 2020. Indicators were on the rise for social media, specifically Instagram +31.8%, LinkedIn +27.8%, Facebook +6.3% and Twitter +5.7% versus June 2020.

Main trends in consolidated revenue:

• circulation revenue from the Daily (print+digital) amounted to € 22.8 million, down by
• • 1.7 million (-7.1%) versus first half 2020. Circulation revenue from the print Daily amounted to € 12.5 million, down by € 2.9 million (-18.9%) versus first half 2020. This performance was partly offset by circulation revenue from the digital Daily, which amounted to € 10.3 million, up by € 1.2 million (+13.1%) versus the same period of the prior year;
• Group advertising revenue amounted to € 39.7 million, up versus first half 2020. This result was achieved thanks to the authority, high quality content and effective business policies which enabled Il Sole 24 ORE to contain the negative effects of the pandemic better than the market, as well as to the launch of the new format of the Daily on 16 March 2021. Group advertising revenue outperformed the relevant market, up by 15.4% (Nielsen - January-May2021).
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  The spread of Covid-19 led to the forced suspension of the physical events of the subsidiary Il Sole 24 ORE Eventi S.r.l.. In order to alleviate the impact on business performance, Management focused promptly on converting the initiatives to digital by revamping the offering and launching new event formats. These activities resulted in revenue of € 2.5 million in first half 2021 (€ 1.2 million in first half 2020);
• revenue from e-publishing in the Tax & Legal area amounted to € 18.7 million, up by
• • 1.2 million (+6.6%) versus first half 2020, leveraging on the renewal of the product portfolio and sales network that started in prior years and despite the impact of the Covid-19 health emergency;
• revenue from the Culture area amounted to € 1.1 million, down by € 0.1 million (- 5.8%) versus first half 2020, hit heavily by the Covid-19 emergency and the closure of all museums and exhibition venues during the lockdown period.

The circulation (print+digital) of Il Sole 24 Ore for the period January-May 2021 totaled 146,807 average daily copies (+1.6% versus the same period of 2020). Specifically, the average daily print circulation declared to ADS for the period January-May 2021 was 59,159 copies (-9.1% versus the same period of 2020). Digital circulation declared to ADS was 87,648 average daily copies (+10.3% versus January-May 2020). Newsstand sales in the months from January to May 2021 fell by 13.0% versus the same period of the prior year, with the market down in the same channel by 10.9% (ADS, newsstand sales).

The Group asked an independent third party to render an opinion on the effective application of the appropriate procedures adopted in the calculation of the Total Paid For Circulation ("TPFC", i.e. total number of Il Sole 24 ORE daily fee-based sales on all markets through print and digital channels) at 30 June 2021; following the audit, the independent third party issued an unqualified Report of Assurance (ISAE 3000 - Limited assurance) on 26 July 2021.

Based on these procedures, the average Total Paid For Circulation for the period January- June 2021 was 178,332 thousand copies (-0.8% versus the same period of 2020), including all

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