Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group), the Nordic region’s leading streaming company, has announced that its shift to a new operating model has led to a reduction in its overall workforce. The personnel savings are expected to be approximately SEK 250 million, with the majority impacting in 2020. This will enable NENT Group to offset USD currency headwinds and continue to invest in the expansion of its Viaplay streaming service. There is no change in the Group’s profitable growth commitment for 2020.
NENT Group has simultaneously undertaken a review of its content-related agreements and investments, which has resulted in the decision to write down the value of certain free-TV content and other assets. This primarily reflects the ongoing change in the type of content that NENT Group shows, and the fact that historic free-TV output deals with long term series commitments have limited remaining value.
NENT Group will report a one-off charge, comprising redundancy costs and impairment charges, of approximately SEK 700 million as an Item Affecting Comparability in its Q4 2019 financial results. The cashflow impact of the charge is expected to be approximately SEK 250 million.
NENT Group’s Q4 2019 results will also include approximately SEK 15 million of advisory costs, which will be reported within Central Operations and relate to the proposed combination of the Viasat Consumer business and Telenor’s Canal Digital.
Anders Jensen, NENT Group President and CEO: “Our new function-based organisation enables us to even better capture the significant growth opportunities that we see in the Nordic streaming market, while also preparing us for further expansion. It is always very hard when colleagues have to leave, but this is a necessary step for us to be able to work and invest even smarter. The savings achieved will offset currency headwinds and enable us to continue to invest in the expansion of Viaplay. The success of Viaplay is also fundamental in our decision to write off certain content elements that we consider to be of low or no value in our journey as a leading streaming company. There is no change to our outlook for profitable growth in 2020. We are building something quite unique in our industry, and these changes will keep us constantly ahead of the curve.”
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