Sanoma published second quarter 2026 earnings this morning, and with me to discuss the report and the current topics is the company's President and CEO, Rob Kolkman. Rob, welcome. Thank you very much. Let's kick off with the second quarter highlights and your thoughts on the report.

Yes, so we had a really solid quarter, and I think most importantly we indicated that we are really on track to deliver on that step change in profit growth for the full year. That is on the back of, of course, us now having done a very important preparation quarter on the Learning side with adoptions and all the contact with schools and the teachers, so that gives us across Europe a really good feel for where we stand, which is really positive. And then, of course, all that now needs to translate into the revenue in quarter three. And if you look at the Media side, and we will touch on it, then of course it is still a little tougher on the advertising side, but overall we continue to perform well there also because of the great work that our goals and the team do on the cost containment and the margin. Well there also because of the great work that our goals and the team do on the cost containment and the margin. Yes.

Let's dig deeper into that. You mentioned the decrease in top line in Media Finland, but then there was a clear step-up in profitability compared to last year's Q2. Obviously there is some impact from a mix change. I would believe, but can you differentiate what is the mix change and what are the underlying actions, and how are they working, and how do you look at the more longer-term profitability improvement there in the segment?

Maybe to start with that last point, if you zoom out, you should look more broadly at what is happening. We are, of course, firmly on track to deliver on that digital transformation. So the bigger indicators, like continued growth in our digital subscriptions, are happening, and it's very, very important. If you then specifically look at this quarter, and a little bit still in Q2 as well, then of course events do come into play there overall for the year. Of course, this time they are very much top of mind, and I highlighted that today. We are very happy with how that has performed, so subscriptions very much show that digital transformation continuing.

We had some mix here on the events side that was a positive one on the bottom line, but of course we had fewer events, particularly now, of course, Rockfest, so that had a bit of top line impact there. And I think it's the point that we already highlighted on advertising: that continues to be more soft, although there were some more positive indications in June. So let's see how that develops.

You've done a few acquisitions lately, and now you acquired Fluentbe. Can you discuss this acquisition? Why was it an interesting target for Sanoma? Yes.

We really try to, of course, strengthen our offering in the markets. We're already active in Poland. We specifically see great opportunities to also go directly to the student and the parts outside of school, and we have two million school-age digital users there that we reach with all kinds of offerings. Fluentbe, which is effectively also AI-enabled digital tutoring, really supports that. So this is a great example where that adds to our offering, and I think more broadly, longer term, personalized learning in all our markets, also outside of the classroom, is a great opportunity for us to expand.

On that, and looking at your technology and platform portfolio as a whole, in which areas do you see potential for new acquisitions to bring more services, and then how are you balancing that with growing the current platforms? Yes, yes.

Really good point. So I think if you look at M&A, there are, you would say, three core elements to keep in mind. There is, of course, M&A vision-wise, which is you add to our existing offering with great methods that we can use and benefit from the scale we already have in a country like Spain, right.

The second part is if we see an opportunity to step into a new geography here in Europe, and it's clearly a focus, and it has the characteristics that we like and we can get it for the right price, then of course that continues to be a focus point as well, like we did in the past with Spain and also with Italy. And the third one, which is this element that you're touching, is of course what is happening if we see good offerings that can help us also on this true story towards more personalized learning solutions for the student across Europe, then we will do so. And Fluentbe is a great example of that, although focused on, of course, the Polish market and opportunity we see. There it has also technology that, if we would see opportunities also where we should roll that out, and maybe in Sweden and the Netherlands, though again focused initially on the Polish market, it helps strengthen our personalized learning offering across Europe as well.

Jumping back to the Media business, I think there are the overall situation in the Finnish TV market, where a big national channel was closed for a big part of the nation. I think one topic we've been discussing for a pretty long time is that the sales of TV advertising, the sales prices, are rather low and the business is not that solid. Can you give an update on where you are going with the advertising business in TV and overall? What is the role of linear TV in Sanoma's portfolio? Yes, so TV overall.

Both linear, as well as of course the on-demand side, is very important for us. If you think about the overall offering, we really see that as a key offering for us, and it will continue to be the case. Clearly that market is changing, like you indicated, so our offering will also continue to adapt to that. But for us, reaching 96 percent of all Finns every week, this is a core part of that offering, and it will remain to be the case. But we will also adapt our models and our business models according to what is needed in the market. And you are, of course, right: the long-term trend on the linear TV side is clear, like the upward trend on the on-demand side as well.

We are at the crucial stage regarding this year ahead of the Q3 season for Learning, and obviously you have some visibility into the sales at this peak season. How can you comment on your performance before that?

Yes, let me comment on the Learning side, because on the Media side I think we touched on that with the advertising side. On the Learning side, we of course operate across Europe, support about 25 million students, and our markets are in slightly different phases. If you take here Finland, students are about to come back from holiday. Sweden, similar kind of situation. We have a really good view on that, and Finland has now curriculum change. What it has got is a very robust, solid ordering in line with our expectations, and we highlighted today that Sweden, a much smaller market for us, is showing really good growth, and we expect that also to be the case for the full year. In the Netherlands we already highlighted we see good growth there. That is of course more on the growing part of that business. A significant part is also subscription-based, and then you have markets where,

of course the focus is firmly still on the quarter three sales. But even there, if you take Spain and Italy in particular, and also Poland, we have good visibility now on the adoptions and also how our methods have been received, which is positive. And specifically for Spain and Italy, it then comes down to it's all about supplying the bookshops. The distributors are now with the books so that the sales can really happen when the students come back from their holidays in September, and then the remaining bigger part is of course the actual sales through, and the last remaining uncertainty. But all other indicators are very positive.

Lastly, on your guidance and outlook and the assumptions. Behind it is a stable advertising market. Can you comment on how you look at that currently? Do you see the ads still picking up, and then also the building blocks for your guidance upper range, and then on the contrary what would need to happen for you to end in the lower end? Yes, so if you.

Comments on that. So our comment on a relatively stable market means it can be four percentage points down or up. Clearly, if you look at the first half, we are more toward that lower end, and actually the first half of the year, it is more than four percentage points down, and you still see us being able to, of course, keep up profitability intact and even improving.

So of course, if we see some early indication that it might increase, we're not banking on it. So that means that we will also continue to do everything we can to safeguard ourselves also if the market would not be relatively stable. But to explain a little bit more clearly, there is a limit to how much you can do, but we're in a really good position and have a good track record to do it. On your point on the guidance, clearly the acquisitions that we've done will help. If everything else stays equal and we have good sales through that we of course expect, then we would be more toward the upper end of the guidance. But we are not changing it for the two key reasons, which is there is of course a big quarter on the Learning side ahead of us, we're in the middle of it now, and there is of course that uncertainty effectively on the advertising side. But everything else being equal, the logic of course would be to go more towards the higher end.

Thank you for this interview, and all the best for the rest of the year. Thank you very much.