Società Editoriale Il Fatto S.p.a. : SOCIETÀ EDITORIALE IL FATTO S.P.A.: approval of the Business Plan 2023-2025. From media company to community company

SOCIETÀ EDITORIALE IL FATTO S.P.A.: approval of the Business Plan 2023-2025.

From media company to community company.

• Acceleration of Physical/Digital multichanneling
• Formed the education division with the establishment of the Il Fatto School
• Community enhancement and innovative push also through web 3.0 and blockchain, in collaboration with Tinaba
• Spin-off of the TV production division with the establishment of LOFT company, which will be a 100% owned SEIF subsidiary
• Throughout the period considered revenues expected at a CARG of 15,3%*
• As of 2025 expected 59% of revenues from the digital channel^*

Rome, 28^th November 2022 – The Board of Directors of SEIF S.p.A. (the “Company” or “SEIF”) media content provider and publisher of several editorial and multimedia products, whose shares are traded on Euronext Growth Milan, multilateral system organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A. and Euronext Growth Paris, has reviewed and approved the Business Plan 2023-2025 (“Plan”).

The new industrial Plan by SEIF, which contemplates the growth through the transformation from media company to community company, is based on the following pillar:

• acceleration of the Physical/Digital multichanneling in order to handle the digital transition;
• establishment of the education division with the Il Fatto School;
• further community expansion with a glance also towards younger generations;
• strong innovative push also throughout web 3.0 and blockchain;
• confirmation of the keyrole of Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper and ilfattoquotidiano.it website;
• further Il Fatto Quotidiano brand development.

Because of these factors, the Plan aims at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in revenue of 15,3%^* throughout the period considered (2023-2025) and to carry the Company beyond the ongoing struggle of the publishing market, through a strong technology push, strengthening the relationship with its own target audience, gaining trust among younger generations also via web 3.0 tools.

Cinzia Monteverdi, President and CEO of SEIF, stated: “Today we restart with the essentials: our community and our brand. We do that with a firm, brave and modern look towards the future, in order to achieve growth in size, benefiting all our stakeholder and become more attractive in the Italian media scene. During these years we have built up a loyal audience that considers our newspaper and reporters within our editorial offices a useful tool for their own cultural and social growth. We want to expand our relationship with our audience, and, thanks to the technology push, we want to communicate with younger generations. We will do it with courage, keeping intact our values which distinguish us, also through web 3.0 tools. Not least, through establishing the education division we want to contribute to the media historic purpose: “not just inform but also educate”.

The Plan focuses on the development of all the production areas, on simplifying our digital offer and the establishment of the Il Fatto School.

Strategic and innovative part of the Plan is the Community expansion, one of the most active and cohesive on a nation level. To strengthen the possibility of active involvement in all the various activities of the publishing Group, it was decided to start a digital project based on web 3.0 technology. The new Community 3.0 will enable the members to participate more actively to the corporate life, to access to exclusive products and services of “Il Fatto Quotidiano”, to use gamification logic, thus complementing different access points of our galaxy (newspaper, website, TV production, found raising, education and petition) for the fruition of the many different services.

The platform will be developed on blockchain technology, obviously not speculative, and will allow every member, regardless of the access point, to interact with the rest of the Community in compliance with the utmost transparency. It's an extraordinary news in the publishing Italian group scenario and an opportunity to increase the interaction and the dialogue with readers and supporters' community. Partner in this project will be Tinava, a 100% Italian fintech operator, with whom Il Fatto Quotidiano has a long-lasting collaboration relationship, with regards to all the charity initiatives of Fondazione Umanitaria Il Fatto Quotidiano and has recently started the payment cards project customized with the brand Il Fatto Quotidiano. Tinaba has involved in the project specialized technology partners of top standing, such as Knobs and Mangrovia Blockchain Solutions. The platform is expected to be already working in the second half of 2023.

The new SEIF Business Plan represents for the Company a great transformational challenge, aimed at bringing forth the first Italian multi-channel community company. An important breakthrough in achieving economic consistency, which passes also through the dialogue with younger generations. The technology innovation, the new education branch and the different forms of active participation are all elements that will have the new target as their direction, besides the consolidation of the existing community.

The TV production branch, LOFT Production, established in 2017, in the short period will establish a new company, SEIF wholly owned subsidiary, to be more autonomous and flexible within the TV production market and seize new opportunities related to the further development of the “video” product. The new company will have an autonomous and independent development and it will be supported by appropriate investments to make the further growth concrete. It is also planned the enlargement of collaborations with industry broadcaster and players to contribute to the further business development. SEIF will maintain control of the new company, but it is ready to consider the entrance of new shareholder to pursue further value as part of new industrial projects.

The Plan expects a CAGR in revenue of 15,3%^*, compared with the 2020-2022 period CAGR which was 2,3%^*. Thanks to the strong innovative push and the digitalization provided for in the Plan, digital channel revenues are expected to account for 59%* of the total by 2025, compared to 37%* of today.

Reason of special pride – also considering the economic downturn which the publishing industry is going through – is that the Plan does not provide for any reduction in salaried staff, who will be employed in the next three years in the important effort to achieve the identified goals.

Within the Plan, SEIF founder shareholders, who currently hold a 43,06% share of the share capital, have expressed their willingness to acquire from SEIF itself part of the own shares held by the Company, under terms and conditions currently being assessed.

The Fondazione Umanitaria Il Fatto Quotidiano, which aims to confirm the social commitment by Società Editoriale Il Fatto, contributing – with his people and competences - to social inclusion, reduction in inequalities and promotion of the dialogue with the civil society, has currently raised and donated more than 400k Euros.

***

SOCIETÀ EDITORIALE IL FATTO S.P.A. (SEIF) is an independent media company, founded in Rome in 2009 and led by Cinzia Monteverdi, President and CEO. The company publishes several editorial and multimedia products, including Il Fatto Quotidiano, founded by Antonio Padellaro and edited by Marco Travaglio, the news website ilfattoquotidiano.it and the monthly magazine FQ Millennium, edited by Peter Gomez, and the publishing house Paper First, edited by Marco Lillo. SEIF has recently embarked on a process of diversification to become more and more of an all-round media content provider, launching a strategy to develop its products in a digital and data-driven key and to produce TV with the LOFT business unit.

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