Spanish multimedia group Vocento increases revenue by 2.4% in Q1

Spanish multimedia group Vocento increased its revenue by 2.4% in the first quarter of 2026, reaching 78.2 million euros, thanks to the generally strong performance of its businesses, particularly the gastronomy division (+16.7%).

The company has also highlighted the robust performance of its digital and diversification revenue streams (+10.6%), which now represent 47% of total revenue and confirm the shift towards a more digital and diversified business model.

At the close of the first quarter of 2026, the group's EBITDA excluding severance payments improved by 15.3% to minus one million, exceeding the results for the first quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, consolidated net income was minus ten million, compared to 8.4 million in the same period of the previous year, which included the capital gain the sale of Pisos.com for 18.5 million euros had generated.

Regarding debt, Vocento maintains a moderate level of indebtedness this quarter. Net financial debt stands at 16.9 million euros, compared to 12.2 million at the end of 2025. On 20 March, the company signed a new long-term syndicated loan agreement to provide greater stability to the group.

By business area, the press division has maintained solid performance during this period and has recorded better advertising growth in the segments in which it operates (+2.9%) compared to the market average (+0.7%). Specifically, in the general-interest press segment, it has grown by 1.6%, while the market as a whole has declined by 0.3%.

Digital subscriptions grew by 11% in the first quarter, reaching a total of 207,000, which represents a 9% increase in revenue. ABC, which launched its new editorial product in February, recorded a 26% improvement in April compared to the same month of the previous year, while the regional newspapers, which, in turn, presented their new websites, apps and print editions on 28 April, have doubled their growth rate since then.

Regarding the diversification business, the classifieds area, which includes Sumauto and Premium Leads, has increased its sales by 4% to reach 6.2 million and maintains a positive outlook for the rest of the year. In gastronomy, revenues have grown by 16.7% to reach 7.3 million, driven primarily by the success of Madrid Fusión, which held a record-breaking event in January with more than 26,000 visitors.

The agencies area has also achieved improvements, with a 9.7% increase in revenue reaching 5.3 million euros. It faces the rest of the year with good expectations.

In the printing and distribution area, revenues fell by 12 million euros during this period due to reduced printing activity. The company is working on developing a more efficient operating model for this area, which includes the possibility of printing ABC starting in July.

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Vocento's objective is to continue implementing its 2025-2029 strategic plan to improve its EBITDA excluding severance payments by between 10% and 18%, reaching 30-32 million euros.

To achieve this, the company is working on four strategic pillars: increasing press revenues through advertising growth and a 17% increase in subscribers, with a target impact on EBITDA of one million euros; building a more efficient operating model with a transformation plan and the reorganisation of the printing business, which would allow savings of between one and 2.5 million euros; growing in classifieds and agencies, with a projected impact of up to 1.5 million euros; and allocating 20% of CAPEX to data projects to improve its digital capabilities.

According to CEO Manuel Mirat, "these results reflect the strength of the group's business model, which is progressing in its transformation towards a more digital, profitable and sustainable model, and confirm the achievement of the main milestones of the 2025-2029 strategic slan".

"In line with our roadmap, we continue to outperform the market in advertising and have consolidated the weight of digital and diversified revenues, which now represent almost half of our income. All of this, together with the planned efficiency improvements, allows us to remain confident in achieving our objectives for this year," Mirat said.