Profitability and
net income/(loss)

Net operating income/(loss) and margin

There was a markedly positive trend in operating/adjusted profitability. The key performance measure EBIT adj. increased by CHF 28.6 million compared with the previous year and the EBIT adj. margin improved from 9.0% to 16.7%.

This development was driven by consistent reductions in operating costs and significantly higher contribution to net income from investments. Operating costs were reduced by CHF 47.4 million. Of this amount, CHF 42.8 million was attributable to organic cost reductions, and CHF 4.6 million to portfolio changes (AdUnit, Goldvertise and Splicky). In addition, the contribution to earnings from investments in associates and joint ventures increased by CHF 8.5 million, supported entirely by SMG (CHF +9.1 million), while karriere.at was slightly down on the previous year. The difference between EBIT and EBIT adj. is mainly due to the adjustment of:

• goodwill impairment of Goldbach excl. Goldbach Neo OOH (CHF 46.4 million).
• depreciation and amortisation resulting from business combinations (CHF 29.7 million).
• costs associated with the closure of the printing centres (CHF 0.9 million).

On an adjusted basis, the improvement in earnings is predominantly structural. Although the year-on-year comparison benefited from the absence of one-off effects, in particular the provision for the social plan at 20 Minuten (CHF 5.3 million) and the provision for an onerous marketing contract at Goldbach Neo OOH (CHF 4.8 million), even adjusted for these effects operating costs were reduced by around CHF 32.7 million. The goodwill impairment of CHF 46.4 million relating to Goldbach, excluding Goldbach Neo OOH, weighs on reported EBIT but has no impact on EBIT adj. and on cash flow. The development of EBIT adj. therefore demonstrates that the operational improvement is not solely attributable to comparison and one-off effects, but is largely driven by the adjustment of the cost base and the Group’s ongoing transformation.

Financial result

At CHF –1.4 million the result is below the previous year’s result (CHF 1.0 million). This change is mainly due to the negative effect from the revaluation of the purchase price liability from the acquisition of the minority interests in NEO ADVERTISING SA of CHF 5.2 million including interest (2025: CHF 2.2 million). The gain of CHF 1.0 million on the sale of Goldvertise Media GmbH had a positive impact.

Taxes

The effective tax rate fell from 47.9% to –29.3%. In 2026, the reduction in the tax burden (compared to the difference from the expected weighted tax rate of 6.0%) was mainly due to non-tax-deductible impairment losses, income tax credits relating to prior periods, unrecognised deferred tax assets on tax loss carryforwards, the impact of the Swiss participation exemption and other non-taxable items, and also the tax effects on investments. Excluding the impairment of goodwill, the effective tax rate would have been 9.4%, compared with an expected tax rate of 20.1%.