The dynamic is strong.
After a year of solid recovery in 2021, the Figaro group posted another good performance last year.
"We had an excellent year in 2022,
even better than 2021
"
, welcomes Marc Feuillée, its managing director.
With a turnover of 570 million euros, up 15%, the group has returned to its level of activity of 2019, before the health crisis.
It recorded an Ebitda of 47 million euros and an operating profit of 33 million euros against 31 million in 2021, an increase of 6%.
“One figure perfectly sums up the group's strategy and the extent of its transformation: 60% of its turnover is now achieved in digital
, notes Marc Feuillée.
Out of a total workforce of 2,000 people, the group, which recruited around 100 people in 2022, now has 300 developers, the second category of employees after its 500 journalists.
This
"dynamic"
growth is all the more necessary since
Le Figaro
has had to face, like its colleagues in the written press, a strong inflation of industrial costs (paper, printing, transport, etc.), which have caused an additional cost of 15 million euros last year.
“The Figaro brand is the pillar of this success.
The daily and its magazines are stabilizing their results thanks to a further increase in their advertising turnover
, specifies its managing director.
Our network has had a good run, particularly in print, where we are progressing for the second year in a row, with market share gains in particular in the luxury sector, which has driven us.”
The 14 H agency, a specialist in special operations, has exceeded the milestone of 20 million euros in turnover.
The challenges of diversification
The group's results were also driven by the digital transformation.
Le Figaro
and its site Lefigaro.fr, which remains at the top of the ranking of
online news media, now has a total of 400,000 subscribers (all formulas included), including 270,000 purely digital subscribers (+ 8%).
“The diversification of our activities also played a major role in our development in 2022
, emphasizes Marc Feuillée.
The travel segment (Les Voyages F and the Marco Vasco and Les Maisons du Voyage agencies) and show ticketing (TickeTac and Le Figaro Billetterie), very strongly affected by the pandemic in 2020, generated in 2022 more than 100 million turnover and show a growth rate higher than that of 2019, which should continue in 2023.”
CCM Benchmark recorded a 7% increase in turnover.
And, with 30% operating margin, the company, bought in 2015 by the Figaro group, achieves its best historical performance.
As for Figaro Classifieds, the online ad business,
“It has also regained its growth rate, in particular thanks to its performance in high-end real estate and its employment activities”
.
On all news channels and all formats
All of the group's activities, which also include
Le Particulier
and La Chaîne Météo, are profitable, with the exception of
TV Magazine,
produced for the PQR, which ceased operations at the end of December.
A new
TV Magazine
, more geared towards SVOD platforms, was launched in early January 2023 for readers of
Le Figaro
and Le
Parisien
.
These results will allow the Figaro group,
"solidly armed" , to approach an
"ambitious"
year 2023
and to support new projects.
An envelope of 30 million euros is planned to support editorial activities (new CMS, the publication system used by journalists), marketing (overhaul of the CRM) or regional activities (
Le Figaro
has set up four offices, in Bordeaux, Lyons, Nantes and Nice).
"The most visible investment will of course be the audiovisual development, with the launch of a hertzian television channel in Île-de-France, Le Figaro TV, and a DAB radio, Le Figaro Radio, which already has three local frequencies, in Île-de-France, Marseille and Nice”
, specifies Marc Feuillée.
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The Figaro group will unveil the outlines of this project next March, with its partner, the independent French group Secom (channels Melody, MyZen, Museum, etc.).
“Under the Figaro brand, we intend to occupy all areas, be present on all information channels and all formats
,” concludes Marc Feuillée.
Finally, 2023 will be the year Le Figaro moves: 1,500 people will leave the headquarters on Boulevard Haussmann for a building acquired by the group in the 9th arrondissement, rue de Provence, or to the second Parisian site, in the 15th arrondissement.
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