The President of Grupo Planeta, José Creuheras, this Saturday in Barcelona. Kike Rincon (Europa Press)
The president of the Planeta Group, José Creuheras, explained this Saturday that after opening the will of Maribel Lara, who died childless in August, he can confirm that the shares of the publishing and audiovisual conglomerate will remain “balanced”. ” Creuheras did not provide any details on how the mystery of 24% of shares owned by the eldest daughter of the family patriarch and founder of the company will be resolved, but expressed that the death will have no impact “so far as it affects “companies”. After the press conference ahead of the Planeta Awards, which takes place this Sunday, the president gave some economic figures of the company that show that it has already fully recovered from the pandemic: the group closed the year 2022 with a turnover of 1, 8 billion euros, 5.8% more than last year, and holds a debt of 250 million euros, which it has diversified by improving its financing.
Maribel Lara’s death in August raised questions about what would happen to the portion of shares she owned. She and her sister Inés each inherited 24% of the shares from their father, while her two brothers José Manuel (second president of the group and architect of its expansion, who died in 2015) and Fernando (who died in 1995) inherited a 26% each. Creuheras has stated that Maribel’s will does not disturb the “balance” of the holding in any way. That is, none of the family branches now has more weight than before, which suggests the possibility that the share of the first-born daughter was evenly distributed among the other three family branches (consisting of Inés and his two children on the one hand, the four children of José Manuel on the other hand and finally Fernando’s two children).
The president of the group explained this in a brief contact with business journalists after the press conference for the Planeta Prize, the 72nd edition of which takes place this Sunday and at which the winner of the 1,129 manuscripts submitted to the competition will be announced – a record number of originals delivered, funded through the prize’s endowment of one million euros, which is higher than the Nobel Prize in Literature. Creuheras has provided further details on the progress of the group’s operations. First of all, the good development of total sales is noticeable, with sales of 1,800 million and a gross operating profit (EBITDA) of 350 million, 14.8% more than in the previous year. The group’s president also highlighted that it had turned to the capital market to diversify debt and that it had obtained a BBB rating, which demonstrated “economic and financial soundness”. Specifically, out of the 250 million euros of debt (the same amount as last year), they carried out an operation with the American Prudential, issuing a bond worth 100 million euros. “This enabled us to improve financing,” emphasized Creuheras.
The group – owner of more than 70 publishing labels and owner of Atresmedia and media such as La Razón – essentially divides its business into three areas: editorial accounts for 26%, media accounts for 48% and training accounts for 23% (the remaining 3) . % consist of other small companies or investment companies). The company, which has 12,500 employees in 20 countries, has expanded its training area to 120,000 students and opened training centers in Africa and Latin America. On the publishing side, the most important movement this year was the acquisition of 60% of the Valencian publishing house Bruguera and the opening of three Casa del Libro branches this year, to which a fourth will be added before the end of the year. and three more in 2024, reaching a total of 60 branches. “One in five books bought in Spain is bought at the Casa del Libro,” remembers Creuheras.
The group’s president has reiterated – as he has continued to do since Planeta decided to move its headquarters to Madrid in October 2017 as a result of the independence process – that there is currently “the possibility of returning the headquarters to Barcelona”. Where the publishing house was founded in 1949. Creuheras also stressed that “the possibility of an IPO of the group is not being considered”: “Shareholders are very comfortable with this structure.”
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