Spanish media group Prisa, publisher of the daily
El Pais
cut its first-quarter loss to 13.8 million euros from 26.1 million in the first quarter of 2020, while its turnover fell sharply 40% due to the pandemic.
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"The income reached 158.5 million, which implies a decline of 39.3% compared to the same period last year
,
"
Prisa said in a statement on Wednesday.
The group justifies these figures by
"the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the advertising market and the closure of schools in Latin America"
, since Prisa's main source of income comes from its school book publishing branch. Santillana, very present on the Latin American continent.
Profit in 2020
Prisa is known in the Spanish-speaking world for being the owner of the prestigious Spanish daily
El Pais
, the sports daily AS and the radios Cadena Ser (Spain) and Radio Caracol (Colombia). Faced with the erosion of traditional media sales and audiences, Prisa has been in the red almost continuously for ten years. In 2020, however, the group managed to generate a net profit of around 90 million euros, thanks to the sale of its subsidiary of school books in Spain. French media group Vivendi took a 9.9% stake in Prisa in January.
Prisa is headed by Joseph Oughourlian, the boss of the British fund Amber Capital, the largest shareholder with 29% of the capital, and Vivendi's ally in the shareholder battle for control of the Lagardère group in France.