31 March 2017
Company announcement no 04-17
The Annual General Meeting was held in accordance with the agenda issued.
The management commentary was presented, and the Annual Report for 2016 was adopted.
Group revenue reached DKK 881 million in 2016, and loss for the year was DKK 63.7 million.
In his report, Kåre Stausø Wigh stated that, as expected, 2016 realised an operating loss for the Group, and EBIT before special items totalled a negative DKK 26.3 million. Seen in isolation, this year’s financial performance is not satisfactory, however, it reflects the continuance of heavy investments in activities to better prepare the Group to deal with the on-demand-driven demand increasingly experienced by the media market.
For 2017, Group EBIT before special items is expected to range from a negative DKK 5 million to a negative DKK 30 million.
At 31 December 2016, the Group’s net interest-bearing cash position was DKK 106.9 million. This is DKK 6.9 million less the balance at year-end 2015 when the net interest-bearing cash position stood at DKK 113.8 million.
The Board of Directors and the Executive Board believe that the Group has a solid balance sheet and strong financial resources ensuring and supporting the long-term development of the business. Strong financial resources are considered a key competitive parameter.
Kåre Stausø Wigh stated that this is the reason why the Board of Directors recommends that no dividend be paid for the financial year 2016. He also stated that the Board of Directors maintains its objective and expectation of achieving a profit performance that can enable distribution of dividend as an annually recurring event.
The Board of Directors believes that the Group is well prepared to cope with the challenges and to ensure that recent years’ decline in earnings will end in 2017.
The Annual General Meeting granted discharge to the Board of Directors and the Executive Board and approved the proposed distribution of loss for the year as disclosed in the Annual Report, including the Board of Directors’ recommendation not to distribute dividend.
The Annual General Meeting adopted the Board of Directors’ proposal to renew the authorisation granted to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital one or several times by up to DKK 25,000,000.00. The authorisation was granted for a period until 31 March 2022.
Richard Bunck, Peter Rasztar, Steen Gede and Ulrik Holsted-Sandgreen were re-elected to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is now made up of Richard Bunck, Peter Rasztar, Steen Gede and Ulrik Holsted-Sandgreen.
Immediately after the Annual General Meeting, the Board of Directors elected Richard Bunck as Chairman and Peter Rasztar as Vice-Chairman.
As proposed by the Board of Directors, Deloitte Statsautoriseret Revisionspartnerselskab was re-appointed as company auditor.
For further details, please contact Kåre Stausø Wigh, Group Executive Director & CFO, at +45 25 65 21 45.
Yours faithfully
North Media A/S
Richard Bunck
Chairman of the Board
This Company announcement has been prepared in Danish and English.
The Danish text shall be the governing text for all purposes, and in case of any discrepancy the Danish wording shall be applicable.