Good morning. I'm Mariola Riaño, Director of Investor Relations at PRISA. Welcome to the presentation of our results for the first half of 2025. Today's presentation, covering in detail the results published yesterday after market close, will be led by Joseph Oughourlian, Chairperson of PRISA, Javier Ruiz, Chief Financial Officer of PRISA, Pilar Gil, Vice Chairperson of PRISA and CEO of PRISA Media, and Jorge Boucher, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of Santillana. At the end of the presentation, we'll open the floor to questions, which can be asked directly via the call or through the website. I hand over to our Chairperson, Joseph.
Thank you, Mariola. Good morning, everyone. Before diving into the detailed analysis of our first half results, let me highlight some key milestones from the first six months of the year. First, I'd like to single out a particularly significant achievement: the successful completion of our debt refinancing agreement that was finally finalized at the close of the first quarter. This milestone, the result of sustained effort in a highly challenging environment, both internal and external, marks a decisive step towards the financial stability that the group needs to successfully tackle the ambitious goals set out in the new strategic plan. Our CFO, Javier , will share the key details of this agreement shortly. Second, I'd like to highlight the significant transformation underway across our media business. Last May, as you know, Pilar Gil, our former CFO, was appointed CEO of PRISA Media.
Pilar has been a great asset to PRISA for over 20 years, bringing both deep knowledge and leadership from the company that is needed to tackle the challenges ahead in the media sector. She has, at all times, acted quickly and decisively, and the business is now sharply focused and well prepared for what lies ahead. We're also very proud of having made all these changes with internal talent. Pilar will provide a detailed overview of this new structure later on. Finally, a special mention must go to the strength and resilience of our education business, which continues to make steady progress in its strategy of transformation, growth, and profitability. The first half results very much confirm the positive momentum Santillana has shown so far this year. With that in mind, let me briefly review some of the key highlights reflected in our presentation of the first half results.
Let me start by underscoring the positive operating performance of our business, much better than expected. However, the year-on-year comparison is affected by the €10 million arbitration award associated with the Cofina case recorded last year, which we discussed in the first quarter of this year. Excluding this extraordinary item, EBITDA grew by 9% and revenue by 6% at constant currency. This improvement was driven by the growth in learning systems at Santillana, which reached 3.4 million subscriptions, and the excellent performance of the base subscription model, which surpassed 426,000 subscribers. Although the second quarter typically carries less weight due to the seasonality, it's important to note that results were excellent. Revenue grew 20% at constant currency, and reportedly did improve from a negative €3 million in the second quarter of 2024 to a positive €5 million in 2025.
Finally, free cash flow has improved by 31% compared to the first half of 2024, and our liquidity position remains very strong. Let's now move to the next slide, which summarizes PRISA's key financial and digital indicators for the first half. These are solid results. I mentioned, excluding the extraordinary Cafeyn impact, both EBITDA and revenue are up at constant currency. Free cash flow has also improved, though it remains negative due to the typical seasonal patterns of our business in the first half of the year. Net debt rose to €777 million as of June. It's been affected by both the seasonality and the refinancing costs. As a result, net debt to EBITDA ratio has reached 4.26 times in line with expectations. Meanwhile, our focus on digital transformation continues to drive growth in our key digital indicators, with digital subscriptions up 15% in both Santillana and El País.
These indicators clearly reflect our growth, our successful digital transformation, and enhanced efficiency so far this year. Let's now take a closer look at the first half results, and I'll hand over to Javier, our CFO, for a detailed financial overview and an explanation of the refinancing deal. Javier?
Thank you, Joseph. Good morning, everyone. I'm Javier Ruiz, CFO of PRISA. I'd like now to take a closer look at the group's operating and financial performance during the first half of 2025. Let's start with operating performance, specifically with EBITDA performance both for the full first half of 2025 and for the second quarter. In addition to the one-off impact of Cofina durations recorded in the first quarter of 2024 and affecting the year-on-year comparison for the hard year, results were also negatively affected by foreign exchange. Exchange rate movements had a negative impact on EBITDA of €8 million for the first six-month period and €9 million in the second quarter. Reported EBITDA exceeded €51 million in the first half of 2025 compared to €64 million in 2024.
However, excluding the aforementioned Cofina effect, EBITDA grew at 9% at constant currency, or 17%, 16% if we also exclude the higher severance costs related to the reorganization at PRISA Media. Growth in Santillana private business, improvement at PRISA Media, and an institutional sale to the Argentine government in the second quarter helped offset the temporary impact of lower public sales in Brazil. Turning to the second quarter, reported EBITDA swung from €3 million in 2024 to a positive €5 million in 2025, driven primarily by the Argentine government sale, which offset the €9 million effects headwind. Let's now take a look at the income statement. Revenues in the first half of 2025 totaled €406 million compared to €426 million in 2024.
Excluding the Cofina effect, revenue rose at 6% at constant currency, fueled by a 12% increase in education sales, driven by a positive Southern Radio campaign at Santillana and the aforementioned sale in Argentina. PRISA Media also saw a lift in advertising revenue, at 2% at constant currency, and in El País digital subscription revenue, which was up by 18%. Meanwhile, Brazil's public business remains impacted by seasonal effects, with sales from the 2023 new titles order being invoiced in 2024. The second quarter of 2025 saw solid revenue growth, 20% at constant currency, 3% in euros. In addition to revenue growth, tight cost controls helped improve EBITDA in both the first half and the quarter, as we saw in the previous slide. Overall, the group's EBITDA margin stood at 12.5%, a one percent point improvement on a like for like basis.
Lastly, I'd like to highlight the increase in EBITDA, which has grown by 17% year-on-year at constant currency, excluding the Cofina impact. In the second quarter, EBIT rose 76% at constant currency, reflecting solid operating performance. The next slide shows how the company's results evolved without EBIT. Specifically, net financial result improved 25% year-on-year and 54% quarter-on-quarter. This was thanks to a 16% year-on-year reduction in interest expenses due to falling interest rates and a €10 million positive accounting impact from the refinancing agreement. These gains offset FX losses and lower interest trading income compared to 2024. Results from equity-accounted companies declined, mainly because of the sale of land by Radiópolis in the first half of 2024. This was partly offset by lower corporate income tax expenses.
As a result, reported net income decreased 13% in the first half of 2025 due to the Cofina item, but grew at 45% in the quarterly comparison. Let's now look at the group cash generation. We must bear in mind that in the first half of 2025, we registered both refinancing costs and proceeds from the first quarter capital increase, which were used in the second quarter to repay junior debt. These two items totaled €20 million compared to the €99 million raised through convertible notes in the first half of 2024. Additionally, in 2025, there were fewer divestments and the group faced legal settlements related to the DTS operation prior to its 2015 sale. As a result, total cash generation declined by €19 million year-on-year to a negative €31 million.
However, free cash flow improved at 31% despite having severance costs in India, hence improved working capital and lower tax payments. In the second quarter, a quarter that historically requires cash outflows, free cash flow was lower than in 2024 due to the reversal of temporary working capital gains in Santillana, discussed in Q1. Interest payments shine, as lower rates more than offset accrued interest from April to May 9 when the new financing came into effect, whereas in 2024, interest payments occurred in July. Finally, the declining divestment compared to 2024 reflects the absence of one-off transactions such as the sale and leaseback of Santillana's Mexico distribution center and divestment in non-core PRISA Media assets. Let's now look at financial net debt. As expected, due to the seasonality of our business, June marks the annual high point for group debt.
As of June 2025, net financial debt stood at €777 million, in line with the net financial debt at the end of June 2024. The net debt to EBITDA ratio reached 4.26 times in line with our expectations. We remain committed to our strategic priority of delivering the group. At the same time, I want to highlight our strong liquidity position. As of June 2025, €192 million, including cash and available credit lines. Now, let me briefly summarize the key features of the new refinancing agreement signed in the second quarter, as Joseph mentioned earlier. This agreement will allow us to stay focused on the significant growth potential of our business and reflect it in the results to date. As you can see on the slide, compared to the previous refinancing agreement, we have extended maturities through 2029 and reduced the blended average cost of debt to Euribor/FOIS 5.4%.
We have also simplified our debt structure into just two tranches, a €219 million super senior tranche and a €575 million senior tranche. This was a strength that the company's credit profile secured more flexible commitment terms and expanded our local financing capacity in Latin America. In short, this agreement provides the stability we need to focus on what truly matters, growing our business. I now hand over to Pilar , who will walk us through PRISA Media's performance.
Thank you, Javier. Good morning, everyone. This is Pilar Gil speaking, Vice Chairperson of PRISA and PRISA Media CEO. I'm pleased to present PRISA Media's results for the first half of 2025, which reflects ongoing improvement in both operating and financial metrics. I took over the role of CEO on May 20 and found an organization that needed a cultural change. I had to address the restructuring of the Executive Committee and the editorial leaders. All these positions were filled with internal talent, and now we are fully committed to a journey of growth and innovation, accelerating the transformation of our content offering, both in information and entertainment, improving our reach to new audiences, expanding our presence in Latam, and restoring the relevance and necessity of well-done journalism in these uncertain times.
We are leveraging further our existing assets and strengthening its capacity for innovation in a context of profound transformation of the media industry, which has been impacted by changes in consumer behavior, interconnection and content overload, new ways of finding and receiving information, the growing influence of AI on production, as well as on the audience side, and the opportunity of new revenue streams with new businesses and the monetization of social media. With the undisputed leadership position of our assets and the foundation of this new organization that promotes synergies by reinforcing cross-cultural knowledge, we aim to become the global leading information and entertainment group in Spanish for all generations. As of today, we keep on fully focused working in our new strategic plan, which we will be delighted to share with you all this coming fall.
Let's now focus on the operating performance of the business in the first half of 2025. I would like to remark the three main levers that support our evolution. First, the quality audience metrics that keep on improving. Second, the advertising growth despite the challenging environment. Third, the evolution of El País subscription model, which continues growing steadily. Regarding audience metrics, let me highlight the excellent performance of our digital metrics during the first half of the year, maintaining our leadership position in audience share. We reached an average of 150 million monthly unique digital browsers and 1.6 billion page views. Our base of registered users grew plus 10% year-on-year to 12 million, and our commitment to audio and video is stronger than ever. In audio, we saw increasing growth, with 9% more downloads and four percent more streaming hours, averaging 61 million monthly downloads and 101 million streaming hours.
In video, we recorded 234 million monthly video stats during the first half of the year. Radio registered a global daily audience of 25 million listeners, plus three percent, and we retained our absolute lead in all those countries where we are present. Audience indicators continue improving in the first half of 2025, and our brands remain leaders in their respective markets. Regarding advertising, we remain strong despite the challenging and uncertain global environment, growing revenues by two percent in local currency, and gaining market share in both Spain and Colombia, thanks to the strength and leadership position of our brands and the loyalty of our audiences. In Spain, our largest advertising market, PRISA Media grew by 2.4%, with especially positive results in radio, outperforming the 0.4% growth recorded across the markets we operate. Year-on-year, our market share rose slightly to 20.1%. Latin America presents more challenges. In Colombia, the market barely grew.
Nonetheless, we outperformed the market and reached a 39% share, slightly above 2024. In Chile, our sinking advertising markets triggered a pricing war, and place our focus on boosting multi-platform products, achieving 20% growth in digital versus 3.6% market growth, offsetting the declines in traditional radio, where our advertising share now stands at 27.3%. This confirms that our diversified portfolio across radio, digital, print, and magazines allows us to continue growing our advertising business, which remains the largest revenue contributor for PRISA Media. Finally, regarding El País subscription model, it continued growing steadily, reaching over 426,000 subscribers, which means an increase of 48,000 subscribers over the period, plus 13% growth, with strong quality metrics in both our view and churn. Of these subscriptions, 415,000 are digital-only subscribers, a 15% increase year-on-year. With these results, we can confirm that El País remains the undisputed leader in the Spain digital press subscription market.
Let's now move on to review how these levers are translated into the evolution of the profit and loss accounts for the period. Total revenues for the period remain broadly in line with the same period last year, reaching €206 million. However, it's worth noting that the second quarter of 2024 included one-off agreements with artificial intelligence platforms, which impact the year-on-year comparison. That said, digital subscription revenues grew plus 18% year-on-year, and event-related revenues also increased by 9%. As mentioned earlier, PRISA Media's advertising revenue grew two percent at constant currency in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024, and in the second quarter, advertising remained at similar levels to 2024, despite the negative calendar effect of early Easter and the absence of major sports events like the 2024 UEFA Euro Cup.
Circulation revenues rose plus three percent thanks to the growth in El País digital subscriptions, which generated plus 18% more revenues, offsetting the decline in print newspaper sales. Nevertheless, El País continues to gain market share from Monday to Sunday, and it is worth noting that the growth in digital subscription revenues doubles the decline in print sales, increasing significantly overall circulation margins. Beyond advertising and circulation, other revenue lines contributed €22 million to PRISA Media's total revenue in the first half of 2025, below the same period last year. While PRISA Media continues to actively pursue its revenue diversification strategy through partnerships with digital platforms, certain one-off agreements in the second quarter of 2024 are affecting year-on-year comparisons. On the other hand, audiovisual production revenues increased by six percent in the first half, underlining our commitment to diversification.
PRISA Media's EBITDA in the first half was affected by higher severance costs from the company's restructuring in Spain before, and excluding those expenses, EBITDA reached €20 million in 2025, plus seven percent increase compared to the same period in 2024. Alongside growth in advertising and digital subscriptions, variable costs were reduced by eight percent through tight cost control, offsetting increased personnel costs from inflation-linked pay adjustments and new regulatory frameworks. EBITDA margin, excluding severance costs, stood at 9.7%, up one percent point from the previous year, and in the second quarter, the EBITDA, excluding severance, remained in line with 2024. In short, improved profitability, stronger operating metrics, and continued progress on transformation. We remain committed to our corporate posts, delivering truthful, verified, and high-quality content, reporting events with responsibility and respect. On this path, we continue to champion rigorous journalism and the transformative role that media must play in a democratic society.
This autumn, we will present our new strategic plan, which, as I mentioned, will be built around journalism and our core priorities: innovation, reaching new audiences, social responsibility, excellence, and, of course, profitability. I will now hand over to Jorge, who will take us through our education business at Santillana.
Thanks, Pilar. Good morning, everyone. I am Jorge Boucher, Chief Operating and Financial Officer at Santillana. Before diving into the numbers, positive as they are, allow me to briefly highlight the performance of our learning system subscriptions. We ended the first half with nearly 3.4 million subscriptions, which is a 15% increase year-on-year. The Southern Region campaign performed well, up 15%, and the Northern campaign had a very strong start with a 21% growth. This growth has been entirely organic, with no acquisitions of schools or businesses. Besides, the subscription growth aligns with our plan and has been supported by faster conversion of clients away from traditional models and excellent execution by our sales teams, achieving a customer retention rate of 88%. Let's now examine the performance of our business lines by market.
In the private market, 2024 comparisons are affected by the sale of a distribution center in Mexico and effects impact. Excluding that, the strong growth in subscription models offset lower traditional didactic sales. In terms of EBITDA, the private business improved by four percent at constant currency, driven by better operating leverage, and the margin increased by one percentage point thanks to a strict code control, reaching 22.3%. Regarding the Brazil public market, as anticipated, it was affected in the year-on-year comparison by sales on the 2023 new titles order, which were invoiced in 2024 and already addressed in our first quarter results. In addition, although some of the decline in public sales to local administration recovered in the second quarter, there is still a year-on-year lag compared to the first half of 2024.
In any case, full-year performance in Brazil's public sector business will largely depend on the outcome of the new titles order for Encina Media under the PNLD program, which represents the highest volume public procurement cycle. It will also be influenced by the country's macroeconomic conditions and ongoing political and fiscal uncertainties. Meanwhile, other markets have significant growth, driven both by institutional sales to the Argentine government recorded in the second quarter and by the strong performance of the domestic Argentine campaign, which delivered market share gains and price increases. This led to a €37 million increase in revenue and a €24 million increase in EBITDA. However, it's important to note that Argentina is considered a hyperinflationary economy, so full-year results will depend on inflation and effects evolution until the end of the year.
Lastly, it is important to note that FX movements had a negative impact of €30 million on revenues, mainly due to the valuations in the Argentine peso, Brazilian real, and Mexican peso, and minus €8 million on EBITDA, driven mostly by the Argentine peso. In this context, Santillana delivered robust results in the first half of 2025, reporting a 22% EBITDA growth at constant currency. This was driven by the private business growth and the institutional sale of the Argentine government, which together offset the seasonal impact of the 2023 PNLD lease sales in Brazil that were invoiced in 2024. Let's now look at key financial indicators. Total revenues at Santillana reached €201 million in the first half of 2025, which implies an 11% increase year-on-year at constant currency. Santillana's reported EBITDA came in at €41 million, up plus one percent, or plus 22% at constant currency.
This improvement was driven by the strength of the private education business and performance in Argentina, along with strict cost controls that helped mitigate the expected temporary drop in public sales in Brazil. Although the second quarter is typically a low season for Santillana due to the business cycle, results this year were outstanding thanks to the recognition of the Argentine government sale. Revenues rose 68% at constant currency, while EBITDA doubled. Santillana's reported EBITDA margin for the first half of 2025 stood at 20.2%, which is a two percent points improvement at constant currency compared to 2024. In summary, Santillana enjoyed excellent performance in the first half of the year, driven by growth in learning system subscriptions, improved results in Argentina, and the notable improvement in cost management.
The second half of the year will be shaped by the expected positive performance of the Northern campaigns and the new titles order for Encina Media in Brazil. I'll now hand back to Javier to review the group's progress on sustainability.
Thank you, Jorge. I will now give you an update on sustainability developments over the past few months. In terms of the social impact generated by our activity, the group maintains its efforts to encourage projects that support diversity and inclusion, such as the new edition of ADPORTEM Positivo Congress and Santillana's International Congress on Inclusive Education. The defense of rigorous journalism was presented at the 2025 Ortega y Gasset Journalist Awards, which pay tribute to strict quality journalists in the face of disinformation. At the same time, PRISA continues to support humanitarian causes through our collaboration with the Emergency Committee, this time to raise funds in support of the victims of the earthquake in Myanmar.
In the environment sphere and coinciding with World Environment Day, PRISA launched the awareness campaign, Act for the Sustainability of the Planet, in collaboration with the UN Global Compact Spain, an initiative that invites citizens to take practical action in response to the climate emergency. Regarding governance, El País celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Reader's Ombudsman, a key figure in maintaining ongoing dialogue with its audiences. The newspaper also hosted the annual meeting of the Organization of News, Ombudsman, and Standards Editors. Finally, the group continues to foster the responsible use of AI in both education and media. A notable example is Verificallio , a tool to detect deepfakes that has received the IMA Global Media Awards 2025 and the WAN-IFRA Europe Award. Thank you all very much. I'll now hand the floor back to Joseph.
Thank you, Javier. Very important to this group, sustainability. Let me conclude. I'd like to briefly summarize the key takeaways from the first half of 2025 that we've just reviewed. First, our businesses continue to perform well despite the negative impact of exchange rates and extraordinary items affecting year-on-year comparisons. The successful performance is the result of the tremendous effort and dedication of PRISA's entire team. Second, the signing of the new financing agreement, more than a year in the making, has strengthened our financial position, providing the stability we need to focus on the growth potential of our businesses and continue advancing our strategic goal of deleveraging the company. Finally, PRISA remains in line with expectations despite an increasingly complex environment.
This autumn, we will present our new strategic plan, which will define the company's roadmap for the coming years, always with a focus on generating value for all our stakeholders. With that, I'll hand it over back to Mariola.
Thank you, Joseph. We will now begin with the Q&A session.
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 into the box and click submit. Alternatively, please stand by while we compile a Q&A roster. We will now take our first question via the phone. Our first question comes from the line of Alvaro Bernal of El País. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two. You quoted some concerns or uncertainties in Brazil. Could you shed some more light on how you view nCino’s Media's renewal later this year? What could be more or less a reasonable way to view the current effects headwinds faced in the country? That would be the first question. Regarding the second one, you mentioned in media, you mentioned that you would look to expand in Latam. Could you expand on this? Would you not contemplate exiting some of the current perimeter and allow for further deleveraging? Thank you.
Right. I think that I'll take the second one, actually, because that's an easy one. We're always looking at all the opportunities in our markets. I don't think that you should understand us expanding in Latam as us making acquisitions in Latam. We see Latam as an area where there is still a lot of upside potential for our media franchises. I think that's the way you should interpret the comment from Pilar. As for the uncertainties on Encina Media in Brazil, I'll let Jorge answer that question.
In relation with our uncertainties in Brazil, I would say that they are probably the same as any other company with operations in Brazil would have as of today. We are seeing an unstable government. We are seeing some kind of measures in terms of, above all, tax and everything related to taxes. We are trying to monitor and follow up what the government is going to do. In any case, what we could say today is that our expectations in terms in relation to the nCino m edia order for this year are still the same. We still think that we can get the numbers that we have been thinking about during all this year. What we only say is that we wait and see.
Let's, again, monitor what the government is going to do because everything related to taxes could have a potential impact in these kinds of public orders. Again, our expectations, at least as of today, with the information we have as of today, are still the same.
Okay. Thank you. Just for a quick follow-up on the nCino Media, would you expect to defend market shares?
Sorry?
Yeah, would you expect to defend market share with the last period?
Yes, that's our expectation.
Thank you.
Thank you. We now have no following questions via the phone. I will pass over to questions via the webcast.
We don't have questions via webcast. We will conclude this conference call. We remain available for any questions you may have. Thank you all for attending this results presentation and have a great summer.