Photo Diego Franssens
A year of challenges and resilience
2022 was a challenging year for Europe and the world. We suddenly had to face a brutal war on our continent, which resulted in turmoil in energy and food markets and a resurgence in inflation. The climate emergency became more visible than ever, and geopolitical tensions increased. At the same time, it was heartening to see that liberal democracies showed more resilience than many had predicted, and that Europe reacted in a predominantly united fashion to these challenges.
Mediahuis also proved itself to be resilient. Despite a difficult economic climate and significant cost pressures, our teams largely managed to counter these effects. This led to an operating result only slightly below the exceptional result of 2021 and a balance sheet that remains extremely strong. We also made progress on the various environmental and social targets we set ourselves.
The demand for our journalism was particularly strong last year: we reached 10 million people on a daily basis and the total number of print and digital subscribers continued to grow to 1.8 million. Our geographical reach extended to Germany as we welcomed the Aachener Zeitung to our portfolio of brands. And investments in digital technology continued at a sustained pace to guarantee an optimal user experience for our readers and listeners.
We continued to build our digital marketplaces business with two complementary acquisitions in Ireland. And finally, Mediahuis Ventures invested in additional promising young enterprises. These digital-only platforms are now a growing part of our group.
2023 will confront us with further challenges. But our group is strong and our teams are among the best. Mediahuis is increasingly cited as a role model for forward-looking news media companies. I would therefore like to thank all our colleagues once again for their impressive professionalism. I also thank my fellow shareholders for their continued support in our Mediahuis journey. Finally, my greatest thanks go to our readers, listeners, viewers and other customers for their continued trust and support for our brands.
Thomas Leysen
chairman
