The information sent to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM) indicates that "the net profit (attributable to the Group) reached €67.9 million, clearly above" the first nine months of 2020.
The rise in profits of Sonaecom, which owns the Público newspaper, reflects the “positive performance in terms of EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization]” and also “the portfolio valuations recorded in indirect results”.
Consolidated turnover grew by 5.5 percent year-on-year, to €53.7 million, with all the companies in the portfolio recording positive contributions to this result.
The company explains that the capital gains generated by the partial sale of Artic Wolf, the sale of CB4 and the sale of Bizdirect, as well as the improvement in the contribution of ZOPT and an improvement in profitability in all business units justified the increase in EBITDA.
The telecommunications area, with a 50 percent stake in ZOPT, which holds a 52.15 percent stake in NOS, posted a positive financial performance, reflecting the acceleration of the operating performance of the Telco area and the recovery of the movie theatre segment and audiovisual – the latter driven by the return of spectators to movie theatres.
Sonaecom's operating costs amounted to €60.4 million, an increase of 6.7 percent above the value observed in the first nine months of 2020.