Polaris Media

Polaris Media closed 2025 with revenue essentially flat, NOK 3,651 million (€312 million), barely changed from NOK 3,650 million the year before, while adjusted EBITDA improved 6% to NOK 310 million (€26 million). The headline stability conceals two very different stories within the same group: the Norwegian media houses delivered strong underlying growth driven by digital subscriptions, while the Swedish operations, grouped under the Stampen Media subsidiary, weighed heavily on profitability before a significant cost-reduction programme implemented in the third quarter began to produce results in the fourth. The year ended with positive momentum, a strengthened cost base, and a proposed ordinary dividend of NOK 3.30 per share.

Polaris Media: key financial indicators 2024–2025

*2024 net income and dividend were exceptionally elevated by the NOK 1,000 million special dividend received from Vend Marketplaces and subsequently distributed to shareholders. 2024 comparison figures are pro forma, restated to include businesses acquired during 2024 and 2025, as presented in the company’s key figures. Statutory 2024 revenues were NOK 3,597.5 million and statutory 2024 EBITDA was NOK 277.7 million.

Source: Polaris Media ASA Q4 and full-year 2025 interim report, published 12 February 2026. EUR equivalents converted at the 2025 annual average exchange rate of 1 NOK = 0.0853 EUR

Polaris Media ASA is a Trondheim-based media and digital platforms group listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. It describes itself as one of Scandinavia’s leading media house groups, operating daily and regional newspapers across Norway and Sweden. Its Norwegian operations include well-known regional titles such as Adresseavisen, Sunnmørsposten, and a network of local papers across northern, mid-, and south-western Norway.

Its Swedish operations are conducted through Stampen Media, which encompasses regional titles in western Sweden including Göteborgs-Posten and a cluster of local papers. Beyond media houses, the group operates printing and distribution businesses in both countries, the latter of which are in structural decline as print volumes fall. Polaris Media’s largest shareholders are Schibsted Media (29.4%) and NWT Media (26.8%); the group also holds a stake in Vend Marketplaces ASA (the former Schibsted marketplace division), valued at approximately NOK 901 million at year-end.

Polaris Media: media asset map

Signals

Total revenue was flat, but the composition shifted towards digital

Consolidated revenues of NOK 3,651 million were virtually unchanged year-on-year. Within that flat top line, the underlying mix shifted significantly. Digital user revenues grew 20% for the full year, with Norwegian media houses up 19% and Swedish media houses up 22%. This growth was offset by continued structural declines in print advertising (down 15% for the group), print subscription revenues, printing revenues (down 22%), and distribution revenues (down 8–12% depending on segment).

The report breaks revenue clearly by type. User revenues, primarily subscription income, reached NOK 2,043 million for the full year, up from NOK 1,904 million in 2024, representing the group’s largest revenue category and now accounting for 56% of total revenues. Advertising revenues fell to NOK 876 million from NOK 897 million, and printing and distribution revenues continued their structural decline to NOK 511 million combined, down from NOK 582 million the year before.

The group also received NOK 149.5 million in press subsidies (pressestøtte) during 2025, of which NOK 89.2 million went to Stampen Media in Sweden. These subsidies, recognised within “other revenues,” are a material component of profitability for regional newspaper groups in Scandinavia and are included in the revenue figures above.

Norwegian media houses delivered strong underlying growth

The Norwegian media house segment is the engine of the group’s profitability. Full-year revenues grew 4% to NOK 2,079 million, driven by an 8% increase in user revenues to NOK 1,364 million. Digital subscription revenues grew 19% and the number of fully digital subscribers in the Norwegian portfolio reached 324,400 by year-end, up 11%, representing 75% of all Norwegian subscriptions, up from 70% a year earlier. Digital user revenues now account for 52% of total Norwegian media house user revenues.

Adjusted EBITDA in the Norwegian segment grew 25% to NOK 236 million, with the margin expanding from 9% to 11%. This improvement was achieved despite advertising headwinds: Norwegian ad revenues fell 6% for the full year, with print advertising down 14% and digital advertising up 4%. The improvement in digital user revenue and disciplined cost management more than offset the advertising weakness. Management flagged that the award for “Årets netthode” (digital innovator of the year) at the national online news association conference went to a Polaris employee for the second consecutive year, and four group titles received prizes for digital journalism and innovation, markers of genuine editorial momentum in the digital transition.

Stampen Media weighed on the full-year result but improved sharply in Q4

The Swedish Stampen Media segment was the source of most of the group’s difficulties in 2025. Full-year revenues were broadly flat at NOK 1,066 million, but adjusted EBITDA fell 4% to NOK 116 million, with the margin unchanged at 11%. The full-year figure masks a deterioration in the first three quarters followed by a sharp improvement in Q4, when adjusted EBITDA reached NOK 51 million, up 59% year-on-year, after a restructuring programme in Q3 that included significant headcount reductions in both editorial and distribution operations and structural changes to the distribution network. Three titles discontinued their print editions in Q3 2025, converting to digital-only formats.

Revenue development in the Swedish media houses was disappointing for much of the year. User revenues in Sweden grew only 1% in aggregate over 2025, compared to 8% in Norway, a gap that management acknowledged explicitly in the outlook section, noting that Swedish user revenues had not been satisfactory and would require targeted measures in 2026. Digital subscription revenues in Sweden grew 22%, but from a smaller base and against the headwind of print revenue declining as frequency and distribution geography were reduced.

The distribution businesses are in managed structural retreat

The Norwegian and Swedish distribution segments together generated NOK 702 million in revenues, down from NOK 765 million in 2024. Norwegian distribution (Helthjem and related operations) saw EBITDA decline 29% to NOK 16 million, partly because 2024 had benefited from an unusually strong parcel volume that did not recur. Swedish distribution deteriorated further, with adjusted EBITDA at NOK -15 million versus NOK -7 million in 2024, driven by the loss of the contract with TEMU through the Early Bird partnership. The Early Bird distribution agreement was terminated in Q4 2025 and parcel distribution through that channel will wind down by 31 May 2026.

The printing business (Trykk Norge) also continued to contract, with revenues falling 22% to NOK 278 million as print volumes declined and commercial printing (siviltrykk) was scaled back. Adjusted EBITDA slipped marginally to NOK 55 million from NOK 57 million. The group has applied impairment discount rates of -10% per year as a terminal growth assumption for its printing units, which reflects the realistic outlook for this part of the business.

Digital subscriptions: the core metric is moving in the right direction

Across both countries, fully digital subscriptions reached 494,600 at year-end, up 12% on 2024. Norway grew 11% to 324,400 and Sweden grew 12% to 170,100. Fully digital subscriptions now represent 75% of all group subscriptions. Average revenue per user continued to rise across the portfolio, and the report notes that pricing discipline on combined print-and-digital (“Komplett”) subscriptions helped limit the revenue impact of declining print volumes, with combined product revenues falling only 6% despite significant volume reduction.

At the end of Q4, fully digital revenues accounted for 52% of Norwegian media house user revenues, up from 45% a year earlier. The trajectory is clear: the group will become primarily a digital subscription business in terms of user revenue within the next two to three years. Whether the pace of digital revenue growth can outrun the continued decline in print advertising and print subscriptions remains the central financial question.

The underlying picture: a two-speed group with the right strategic direction

Polaris Media’s 2025 results reflect a group that is making genuine progress in its core Norwegian franchise while managing a more difficult transition in Sweden. The Norwegian media houses are producing the kind of digital subscription growth, 19% in digital user revenues, 11% in fully digital subscriber count, that validates the multi-year investment in digital journalism and product development. The Swedish business is further behind, with user revenue growth of only 1% and a restructuring that is still working through its effects on the cost base and editorial organisation.

The structural decline in print advertising, print distribution, and commercial printing is irreversible, and the group manages these activities with appropriate realism, applying negative terminal growth rates in impairment testing and winding down distribution contracts that are no longer commercially viable. What gives the group its financial stability, beyond its operating cash flow, is the NOK 901 million Vend Marketplaces stake: a legacy of the Schibsted relationship that now provides a substantial buffer as the editorial transformation continues. The group enters 2026 with a leaner Swedish cost structure, continued Norwegian digital momentum, and a dividend policy that signals management’s confidence in the sustainability of underlying free cash flow.