Santillana is a textbook and general-interest publishing group in Spain and Latin America with an international presence in 22 countries. Santillana has been part of PRISA, the largest media group in the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets, since March 2000. PRISA is active in education, news and information, and entertainment in 22 countries and reaches over 60 million users through EL PAÍS, 40 Principales, and Santillana. Santillana celebrated its 50th anniversary in January 2011.

Santillana’s general interest publishing division was sold to Penguin Random House in 2014 for 72 million EUR, leaving the company to focus solely on educational publishing.

PRISA faced serious challenges after the 2008 financial crisis, and accumulated debt of over 3 billion EUR, which the company is currently engaged in restructuring and repaying. In 2014 PRISA executed a sale purchase agreement with Telefónica de Contenidos, S.A.U for the company’s 56% share of DTS for 750 million EUR.

Analysis & Key Developments

Financial

In 2015 Santillana’s operating revenues slipped 1.4% to 643 million EUR, compared to 652 million EUR in 2014. In contrast EBIDTA grew by 8.6% to 172 million EUR (158 million EUR in 2014). Santillana also faced a negative FX impact of 28.6 million EUR in revenues and 3.5 million EUR on EBITDA during 2015. The division’s revenues were also impacted by a low cycle year in institutional sales in Brazil and the high grade of adoption instituted by educational reform in Spain.

Revenues in Latin America developed positively in local currencies and traditional education sales grew by 0.3% at constant currency.

Internal Organization

Consolidation

In December 2015 Santillana used the Guadalajara International Book Fair to launch its new children’s and YA imprint Loqueleo. Loqueleo opened with 300 titles for Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay. The imprint sells books in 22 countries and aims to reach 100 million students in Spain and Latin America with both print and e-book editions.

International

Spain posted sales growth of 19.9% at 140 million EUR for 2015. The growth was driven by academic reform as well as commercial development. The Brazilian market closed with a declining performance with revenues down by 22,8% to 148 million EUR. Santillana’s business in Mexico grew by 3.2% to 65 million EUR, while other countries in Latin America saw a growth of 5.5%. Santillana’s business in the region accounts for 77% of group revenues and 82% of EBIDTA.

Nineteen percent of revenue comes from Spain, 22.2% from Brazil, 15.5% from Mexico, 30.5% from Argentina, 36.7% from Chile, 18.2% from Colombia, and 6.1% from Portugal.

Digital

In 2015, digital revenue accounted for 120 million EUR, an increase of 10% or 16.5% at constant currency, from 112 million EUR in 2014. Digital learning systems UNO & Compartir reached 813,752 students during 2015 and continued their expansion in Latin America, growing by 28.8%. UNO System reached EBITDA of 20.6 million EUR in 2015. Santillana (UNO and Compartir) provided 69% of the group’s digital revenues.

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