Storytel net sales up 22% in 2022

Storytel’s official year-end earnings report shows net sales up 22% in 2022 to 3,200 MSEK (£255m) due to the acquisition of Audiobooks.com, organic growth, and positive foreign exchange.  

The report reveals more financial details than the quarterly update posted in January. 

Operating loss was 389 MSEK (£39m) compared to 350 MSEK (£28m) last year. The company said that expenses in the period include the purchase of Audiobooks.com, a strategic shift and reorganisation in the beginning of the year “to focus on profitable growth”, and an 8.3 MSEK (£660,000) severance payment to founder and former c.e.o. Jonas Tellander. Ebitda was -56.5 MSEK (-£4.5m), compared to –172.5 MSEK (-£13.75m) the previous year.  

The company did not share financial targets for the year and will stop doing so for the quarter. Later this year, they will share a “long-term financial vision” at Capital Markets Day.  

Johannes Larcher, c.e.o. said: “Overall, including core and growth markets, Storytel achieved 11% organic, FX-adjusted growth in 2022, which is the trend we expect to remain for the coming quarters until the strategy has been fully deployed. 

“As we communicated in 2022, our activities and investments remain geographically focused on growth in a set of core, profitable markets. These encompass Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland and the United States. I was happy to see Storytel closing the year with continued strong momentum in these top 10 markets. Having switched our focus from growth only to profitable growth, we are making limited investment beyond the core 10 countries and are taking time in 2023 to evaluate and prioritise our activities outside the core markets.”