Good morning. I'm Mariola Riaño, Director of Investor Relations at PRISA. Welcome to the 2024 results presentation. In order to explain in greater detail the results that were published yesterday when markets closed, today's presentation will be led by Joseph Oughourlian, Chairperson of PRISA, Pilar Gil, Deputy Chairperson and Chief Financial Officer of PRISA, and Jorge Bujía, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of Santillana. At the end of the presentation, we will open the floor for questions, which can be asked directly via the call and also through the website. Without further ado, I'll now hand over to our Chairperson, Joseph.
Thanks, Mariola. Welcome, everyone, to this 2024 results presentation. It's a pleasure to share with you the results for the year. Before diving into the numbers, I would like to highlight some of the key aspects of the company in 2024, a year in which we've remained focused on our business development and financial leveraging. First off, the operational performance, which is in line and even beats our expectations, with EBITDA reaching EUR 185 million ahead of the 2023 number, which, I'll remind you, had extraordinary sales in Argentina and had public novelties under Brazil's PNLD program that wasn't there in 2024 and will be pushed into 2025, hopefully. Those results seem to us of very good quality, and the improvement was largely due, as far as Santillana is concerned, by the growth in learning systems, where we've reached subscriptions of three million students at Santillana.
And also, on the media side, by the excellent performance of El País, with subscribers exceeding 400,000 at the end of 2024. Additionally, despite the continued complexity of the macroeconomic environment and persistent market uncertainty, we beat our 2024 guidance in the two key indicators we set as targets a year ago. Secondly, PRISA remains focused on cash generation and debt reduction. Free cash flows improved by 6% compared to 2023, and the successful completion of the issuance of convertible notes for EUR 100 million in the second quarter of last year strengthened PRISA's financial structure. This operation allowed the early repayment of € 50 million of junior debt, which is, as you know, the most expensive tranche of our debt. As a result, net debt has been reduced by 10% over the last year, reaching the lowest net debt-to-EBITDA ratio since 2005.
Our financial result has improved by 17%, and what's more, we continue to maintain a very strong liquidity position. All in all, 2024 has been a year of strong operational and financial performance in a challenging environment. As mentioned earlier, we're very pleased to present results that exceed the 2024 guidance. If we look at slide six, in terms of EBITDA margin, we've reached 20.1%. We've surpassed the guidance of 19%-20% despite a difficult environment as far as costs are concerned. And for free cash flow, we've ended with EUR 63 million, which, again, is higher than the EUR 60 million guidance we gave the market a year ago. For 2025, we're working on new objectives within the framework of a new strategic plan, which will be announced soon, hopefully.
We would hope to close the refinancing of the company and then announce our new strategic plan and have a Capital Markets Day where we'll be able to sort of enter into much more detail with you guys. One more thing before I pass on the baton to our CFO: as we were working on this new strategic plan, the board decided yesterday that the company should not get involved in free-to-air TV. There had been a debate inside the company, and we looked at various projects but concluded that, frankly, at this point and given the situation of the company, that was not a reasonable thing for us to get involved with. So, with this, I'll leave the floor to Pilar, our Vice Chairwoman and CFO.
Thank you, Joseph. Good morning, everyone. This is Pilar Gil, speaking. Let me follow on the detailed results by reviewing the evolution of EBITDA for 2024 and the last quarter of the year. In order to better understand its evolution, let's briefly recall the two extraordinary effects that impact our year-on-year comparison with 2023. First, in 2023, Santillana, Argentina, recorded exceptional institutional sales that did not happen in 2024. In addition, in the last quarter of 2023, the Argentine peso experienced a significant devaluation of 59%, which had a substantial negative impact. Second, in February 2024, PRISA Holding registered EUR 10 million in other operating income following a favorable arbitration ruling related to the failed sale of the Media Capital business to Cofina in 2020. Taking all this into consideration, the reported EBITDA for 2024 reached EUR 185 million, representing a 2% increase or 14% when excluding the negative exchange rate effect.
Excluding extraordinary impacts to analyze on a comparable basis, EBITDA grew by 5% or 11%, excluding the currency effect. The strong performance of Santillana's private market and media business offsets the absence of a new novelty order from Brazil's public PNLD program in 2024. EBITDA at Brazil public declined by EUR 11 million compared to 2023, in line with expectations as the Brazilian government had announced that this new PNLD novelty order would be postponed to 2025, and this will be the case. For the last quarter of 2024, reported EBITDA reached EUR 86 million, up 44% year-on-year, with minimal exchange rate impact. Excluding extraordinary effects, EBITDA grew by 18% or 30%, excluding the currency effect. The resolution of delays in public sector sales in Brazil, as explained in the third quarter, along with the stronger PNLD reprint sales, helped to compensate for the lack of a new novelty order.
In addition, both business units implemented significant cost control measures in the final quarter, further boosting the EBITDA evolution. Let us now turn to the P&L. Revenues for 2024 amounted to EUR 920 million compared to EUR 947 million in 2023. This comparison is affected by the extraordinary items explained before. However, excluding these, revenues remained stable at a constant exchange rate despite the absence of the novelty order in Brazil. Through 2024, revenues from learning systems in Santillana continued to grow, while PRISA Media benefited from, first, improvements in advertising, second, an increase in El País subscriptions, and third, strategic partners signed with technology platforms. The last quarter, historically the strongest of the year, delivered exceptional performance, with revenue growing by 6% year-on-year or 11% if we exclude exchange rate effects. In addition, EBITDA margins improved significantly, increasing by 5% percentage points excluding the extraordinary items.
Revenue stability, coupled with strict cost management, contributed to a total reported EBITDA of EUR 185 million for the year, representing a 14% increase at constant exchange rates or 11% excluding the extraordinary effects. Both business units significantly improved reported EBITDA compared to 2023, plus 7% in Santillana and plus 16% in PRISA Media. The group's EBITDA margin stood at 20.1%, surpassing the upper range of our market guidance issued at the beginning of the year. While the exchange rate had little impact on EBITDA in the last quarter, the total annual effect was minus EUR 21 million, mainly due to the devaluation of the Argentine peso and the Brazilian real. On the next slide, let's go through the evolution of the company's results below the operating profit. It is worth noting that financial results improved by 17% compared to 2023.
This improvement was driven by, first, a lower negative impact from hyperinflation adjustments in Argentina due to the lower results, and second, a reduced negative impact on the fair value of the debt, as lower repayments of junior debt were made compared to 2023. In addition, part of the increase in interest rates was offset by the positive effect of the settlement of interest rate hedge from previous years, as well as by the partial repayment of the junior debt. The equity accounted result worsened compared to 2023 due to the revaluation of Radiópolis that was recorded in 2023. In summary, lower corporate tax expenses combined with improvements in operating profit and financial results contributed to a 64% improvement in reported net profit for 2024 compared to 2023.
On the next slide, let me just analyze the group's cash generation, which has evolved in line with our expectations and has allowed us to continue leveraging the company. In 2024, total cash generation reached EUR 88 million compared to EUR 98 million in 2023. It is important to note that in 2024, net inflows from the convertible notes issuances were lower, EUR 98 million versus EUR 128 million in 2023. Adjusted for PNLD 2024 collections, free cash flow remained positive at EUR 63.1 million, up 6% from EUR 59.6 million in 2023. This is in line with our market guidance, which targets free cash flow above EUR 60 million for the year. The increase in dividends compared to 2023 amounts to EUR 7 million, and is mainly due to the sale and leaseback of a Santillana distribution center in Mexico, as well as higher dividends in non-strategic assets within the media within the PRISA Media perimeter.
Cash generation before operations improved by 13% compared to 2023, driven by, first, the improvement in free cash flow, and second, the higher dividends offsetting the impact of a EUR 3 million increase in interest payments. In addition, beyond the lower proceeds from convertible notes issuances, it is worth noting that in 2023, we incurred EUR 4 million in interest rate hedge costs and EUR 15 million in payments to finalize the acquisition of the remaining 20% stake in the radio from Godó. In short, the continued trend of improved cash generation has been consolidated in 2024, driven by, first, stable revenues, second, effective cost management, third, control over working capital investment, and fourth, financial efficiency. Let's now analyze how net financial debt has evolved.
Cash generation led to a reduction in net financial debt, which now stands at EUR 750 million, down from EUR 832 million in December 2023, a 10% reduction or EUR 82 million. It's also improved our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 3.97 times, making it the lowest level since 2005. It is worth highlighting that as of December 2024, the group maintains strong liquidity positions of EUR 223 million, including cash and available credit lines. While our financial leverage has improved and the management measures we are implementing continue to strengthen our balance sheet, we remain committed to further debt reduction and refinancing negotiation. These efforts aim to extend maturities and provide our business with the financial clarity they need within the framework of our long-term strategic plan, enabling them to fully capitalize on their growth potential as it has been evidenced by the strong annual results.
Let's now move to review PRISA Media results in detail. PRISA Media results reflect an improvement in both operational and financial indicators. These results confirm that we are successfully executing our strategic roadmap for digital transformation while maintaining our strong position in traditional markets, which continue to demonstrate resilience. With regards to our digital transformation, we are also forging new paths. We have embraced innovation, and we are fully leveraging the business opportunities presented by artificial intelligence. Despite a challenging macroeconomic and industry environment, PRISA Media's overall results demonstrate that our efforts across all business areas are yielding positive outcomes, motivating us to continue moving forward. First, I would like to highlight the outstanding performance of our operational indicators over the past year, particularly in digital. Throughout 2024, PRISA Media has maintained its leadership in audience reach.
Our online and offline indicators highlight our leadership position in terms of audience in 2024. As for unique browsers, we have a total monthly average of 166 million unique browsers per month. We are committed with quality and engagement audience rather than clickbait. Page views have increased by 5% year-to-date, and the number of registered users has risen by 14%. We continue to make significant progress in audio, with a 1% increase in downloads and a 10% rise in listening hours, reaching a monthly average of 52 million downloads and 96 million listening hours. In the video segment, we recorded 182 million monthly views, making a 29% increase compared to the same period in 2023. In radio, we exceeded 24 million daily listeners worldwide, maintaining our absolute lead in all the markets where we operate.
At the same time, our print newspapers continue to attract an average of 1.3 million daily readers across all our publications, a 3% increase, effectively doubling the audience of our closest competitor. Our audience metrics continue to improve in 2024, and our brands all continue to lead in their respective markets. In addition, the El País subscription model continues its positive trajectory, achieving solid subscriber growth. By the end of 2024, we surpassed 400,000 total subscribers, an increase of more than 53,000 from 2023, representing a 15% growth rate. We have strengthened our position in the Spanish-language digital subscription market, ensuring that we will meet key strategic target amounts in 2022 by the first quarter of 2025. In summary, El País maintains its absolute leadership position in Spain's digital subscription market. Now, let's turn to the evolution of the advertising during this period.
The advertising remains the primary source of revenue for PRISA Media, as you know, accounting for 75% of the total income. I would like to underline that despite a challenging and uncertain global macroeconomic environment, we successfully increased net advertising revenue by 3%, strengthening our market share thanks to the power and leadership of our brands and the loyalty of our audiences. Across all advertising markets, we outperformed the broader market trends. Market share increased both in Spain and Latin America. Especially in Spain, PRISA Media grew faster than the market, reaching a 20.1% market share. In Colombia, where our advertising share is already high, we continue to make gains, achieving a 41.7% market share, and in Chile, we experienced growth despite a decline in market, pushing our share up to 29.2%.
This performance confirms that our diversified portfolio positions us well for continued growth in advertising, our most important revenue stream. We move to the P&L. Total revenue for the period increased by 3% in 2024, with increased digital revenue mix, notably digital revenue grew by 7%, and revenue growth from events increased by 24%. As mentioned here, PRISA Media advertising revenue grew by 3% for the year, driven mainly by a 10% improvement in our radio business in Spain compared to the same period in 2023. Circulation revenues increased by 4%, boosted by a 23% increase in digital subscriptions to El País, which offset the decline in print newspaper sales. Beyond advertising and circulation, other revenue streams contributed EUR 52 million in 2024, reflecting a 2% increase compared to 2023.
This growth is partly attributable to our revenue diversification strategy, partnerships with artificial intelligence platforms for content monetization, and our investments in audio and video productions. In terms of EBITDA, PRISA Media reached 57 million in 2024, making a 13% increase compared to 2023, or 16% at constant currency. Alongside revenue growth, variable costs were reduced by 1%, mainly due to lower audiovisual production volumes, as well as cost control measures that offset the impact of inflation-linked salary adjustments and new regulatory frameworks. As a result, our EBITDA margin improved to 12.8%, up by 1 percentage point from 2023. In summary, we are improving profitability and strengthening our operational indicators and moving ahead with our transformation. I will now hand it over to Jorge, who will provide an update on our education business.
Thanks, Pilar. Good morning, everyone.
We can confidently state that Santillana delivered a brilliant performance in 2024, achieving a reported EBITDA growth of 7% at constant exchange rates, despite the impact of extraordinary sales in Argentina in 2023 and the lack of a new PNLD novelty order in the Brazilian public sector in 2024. But before getting into the details of our results, I would like to highlight the performance of subscriptions to our learning systems, which have grown across all categories. At the end of the year, we reached a total of 3 million subscriptions, marking a 5% increase compared to 2023. Both the northern and southern region campaigns have demonstrated sustained growth of 7% and 4%, respectively. And this growth remains entirely organic, meaning there were no acquisitions of businesses or schools.
Of the three million subscriptions, our core flexible and global systems account for 2.2 million, while the remainder includes supplemental systems primarily in the field of English language learning, but also in reading and socio-emotional content, among others. Thanks to our cross-selling strategy, supplemental and English language systems have achieved a 13% increase compared to 2023. The growth of our subscription models, as foreseen in our plan, has been driven by the acceleration of our customers' transition away from traditional didactic models and the solid performance of our sales networks, with a retention rate of 87%. In terms of revenue, subscription-based learning systems are Santillana's primary source of revenue, accounting for 68% of private sector sales in 2024, an increase of 5 percentage points from 2023. Total revenue from subscriptions, including both private and other markets, grew by 8% to reach EUR 231 million for the year.
Notably, we saw solid performance in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Ecuador, and this growth is driven by both the increase in subscription volume and price adjustments. Let's now examine the performance of our business lines across the different segments in which we operate. Total revenue from the private market, which includes not only subscription-based models but also traditional didactic sales and other operating income, grew by 5% year-over-year at constant exchange rates. This growth is largely driven by the improvement in subscription models, which grew by 11% at constant exchange rates, partially offsetting a decline in traditional education sales. This decline was due to lower institutional sales in Mexico, as the 2023 CONALITEG program was discontinued, and in the Dominican Republic, where extraordinary sales occurred in 2023. In terms of EBITDA, the private sector showed an outstanding improvement of 21%, or 27%, excluding the negative effects impact.
On the other hand, as we have already mentioned, the Brazil public market was affected by the absence of the PNLD list new novelty order this year, as the Brazilian government has postponed the Ensino Médio order to 2025. As a result, revenue and EBITDA declined compared to 2023. However, this impact was partially mitigated by higher reprint sales and stringent cost control measures. Finally, the figures for other markets were impacted by the extraordinary institutional sales in Argentina in 2023, which were not repeated this year. Looking at the detail of our key financial indicators, Santillana's total revenue reached EUR 467 million, declining only 2% compared to 2023, when excluding both negative exchange rate effects and the extraordinary impact of Santillana Argentina.
This resilience was driven by the strength of our subscription models, which helped offset the absence of a new PNLD order in Brazil and the declining traditional education sales. Santillana's reported EBITDA stood at EUR 125 million, reflecting a 7% increase at constant exchange rates, or 11% when excluding Santillana Argentina. This was achieved through improvements in our subscription models and rigorous cost control measures. The exchange rate effect has negatively impacted EBITDA by EUR 20 million, mainly due to the devaluation of the Argentine peso and the Brazilian real. Looking at the fourth quarter, results were exceptional, with EBITDA increasing by 21%, excluding Santillana Argentina, or 37% at constant exchange rates, and with an even higher growth in the private sector, where EBITDA improved by 55% at constant exchange rates, year-over-year.
The reported EBITDA margin for 2024 reached an impressive 26.7%, representing an improvement of 3 percentage points compared to 2023, excluding Santillana Argentina. In summary, Santillana has delivered excellent results, maintaining growth in the private sector, driven primarily by subscriptions to learning systems, while achieving significant efficiency gains in cost management. I will now hand you back over to Pilar to discuss the group's progress in sustainability.
Thank you, Jorge. Let me briefly give you an update on our sustainability developments in 2024. In this slide, you have a summary of our activity that continues to be reinforced. We continue to improve our social, environmental, and governance measures, remaining committed to integrating sustainability across its value chain, which has been reflected in the significant improvement of our ratings. I will now hand it over back to Joseph to conclude.
Thanks a lot, Pilar.
I know sustainability is not very fashionable these days, but it's still something that's important to us and close to our hearts, and it's something that we still want to improve on. Summarizing the key highlights for 2024, first and foremost, our businesses have once again demonstrated their operational strength. The tremendous efforts and commitment of PRISA's team have made the success possible, allowing us to surpass the goals we set a year ago. Second, we end the year with a stronger financial position, thanks to the support of our shareholders and the continuous focus on cash generation and debt reduction. This has allowed us to reinforce our balance sheet and significantly improve our financial leverage. Additionally, PRISA remains committed to integrating sustainability across its entire value chain, in line with our corporate purpose.
Finally, PRISA continues to work towards its objectives and is developing a new strategic plan for 2025-2028. This plan will define the company's direction and strategic priorities for the coming years, with a steadfast focus on creating value for all stakeholders. So stay tuned. Operator, we can take questions now.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please type it into the box and click submit. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster.
So we've got a first question from Fernando Abril-Martorell. How do you see the outlook for public sales in Brazil in 2025? Do you expect to gain additional market share?
How is the debt refinancing progressing? Do you have a timeline in mind? Do you have a timeline in mind? And regarding the speculation about the potential sale of the media business, is this something you're considering? Do you have any other disposals planned for 2025? Why don't we start with the question on the public sales in Brazil in 2025?
Thanks, Joseph. First of all, thanks for your question, Fernando. As of today, I would say that we see a positive outlook, but we have to consider also some macro uncertainties that we have all over Latin America and also, of course, in Brazil. Summarizing, I would say that positive outlook, but being cautious about what is coming, above all in terms of macroeconomic and governments and so on in Latin and in Brazil.
In terms of market share, of course, we will try to do as best as we can, but we will see. We are estimating that we will be moving around similar market shares that we have seen during the last years. If we make it possible, maybe we could reach a higher market share, but we will see. It's difficult because, as you know, we have very significant shares there. But at least we are estimating, as I've said, to move around the historical market share we have had in this market.
Thanks, Jorge. Pilar, do you want to take the question on refinancing?
Yeah, of course. Fernando, thank you for your question. Well, I can tell you that as of today, the full financial team is fully focused on the refinancing of the company.
We've been analyzing this for the last months, trying to achieve the best solution for the company. I cannot commit to give you any timeline, but I can tell you that the full focus as of today is here, and I hope to be able to give you news soon.
Thank you, Pilar. As far as the sale of our media business, well, frankly, I think that has to go down as yet another fake news because I'm afraid we haven't received any offers on our media business. So there's not much else I can say about that. We've got a question from David López. Thank you for the presentation. Regarding margins, could you provide more color on the key drivers behind the significant margin improvement seen in Q4? Do you see cost efficiencies continuing in 2025?
I guess we could split that between media and Santillana, perhaps starting with Santillana. Jorge?
Well, the reason with your last question, if we see cost efficiencies continuing in 2025, of course, cost efficiency is one of the key things in which we work profoundly year by year, above all because we are seeing that we have more new, let's say, instruments or tools to keep working on cost efficiency based on new technologies and so on. So, of course, we will be working on that for the upcoming years. And in terms of margin improvement in Q4, it's true that we have had, of course, these cost efficiencies, but we have also had some relevant revenues, above all, for example, in Brazil and so on. But in general, it's in line with what we have been expecting.
Key drivers, as I have been describing, cost management, above all, and good coming of the revenues during the last months of the year.
Just to continue with the questions related to media, you know that fourth quarter is super relevant, both for education because of the public sales, but also in media, because this is a super relevant quarter in terms of advertising. The advertising did very well. In education, as Jorge was mentioning on Santillana, we keep on analyzing and doing efforts in cost control in order to improve efficiencies. As long as we improve in our digital transformation, obviously, margins are higher, and we continue to move through that route. That's very important. Yes, we do see further cost efficiencies for 2025.
As we said in our presentation, the company is working on a Capital Markets Day in order to present the prospects for the company in the next three years, so well, we will be disclosing all our strategic plans at that moment.
We don't have any questions via webcast. Operator, is there any questions via the call?
There are no questions from the audio at this time. However, if you do wish to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone,
so obviously, we'll remain available for any questions you may have in the future. Thank you all for attending this 2024 results presentation, and have a great day.