PRISA

Spanish media and education group PRISA closed 2025 with broadly stable revenues but declining profitability, reflecting currency pressures, restructuring costs and the continued structural challenges facing the media sector. Group operating revenues reached €904 million in 2025, down slightly from €920 million in 2024 (–2%). Adjusted for exchange-rate effects, however, revenues actually increased by about 3%, highlighting the strong impact of currency volatility in the group’s key Latin American markets.

EBITDA declined more significantly. The group reported €163 million in EBITDA, compared with €185 million the previous year, a drop of roughly 12%. The decline was partly explained by negative foreign-exchange effects (about €13 million) and €9 million in restructuring-related severance costs, which affected both the media and education divisions.

At the bottom line, PRISA reported a net loss of €27 million, compared with –€12 million in 2024. The deterioration was driven mainly by lower EBITDA, reduced contributions from equity-accounted investments, and higher tax expenses linked to stronger performance in Latin American subsidiaries and withholding taxes on distributions to the holding company.

Cash generation weakened considerably compared with the previous year. The group generated only €1 million in total cash flow in 2025, versus €88 million in 2024, mainly because the previous year had benefited from significant financing operations and divestments.

Meanwhile, PRISA’s financial structure remains heavily leveraged. Net financial debt reached €757 million, slightly higher than the previous year. The group’s Net Debt/EBITDA ratio stood at 4.26x, underlining the continued importance of debt management and refinancing for PRISA’s financial strategy.

PRISA Key Financial Indicators (2025)

Source: PRISA FY2025 results report

PRISA (Promotora de Informaciones S.A.) is one of the largest Spanish-language media groups, operating across Spain, Latin America and the United States. Historically known as the publisher of El País, the group today combines media operations with a major education business.

PRISA operates primarily through two divisions. One is PRISA Media, which includes some of the most influential news and entertainment brands in the Spanish-speaking world. Among its flagship assets are the newspaper El País, sports daily AS, business publication Cinco Días, and radio networks such as Cadena SER, Los40, W Radio, and Caracol Radio. The division also manages podcast networks, audiovisual production units and digital media platforms across Spain and Latin America. Santillana, the group’s education arm, is one of the leading K-12 educational content providers in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world, operating in 19 countries and increasingly focused on digital learning systems and subscription-based educational platforms.

In 2025 the education business remained slightly larger than media in revenue terms. Santillana generated €466 million in revenue, compared with €438 million for PRISA Media, meaning the education division accounted for just over half of group revenue.

PRISA Media generated €438 million in revenue in 2025, a slight decline of 1% year-on-year. Advertising remained the dominant revenue stream, accounting for €338 million, or roughly 77% of media revenue, and grew modestly (+1%). Radio performed particularly well, with advertising revenue increasing by about 3%.

Circulation revenues showed moderate improvement, rising to €59 million (+2%), mainly thanks to the continued growth of El País’ digital subscriptions, which increased by 16% year-on-year. By the end of 2025, El País had 451,304 total subscribers, including 442,092 digital subscribers, consolidating its position as the leading subscription newspaper in Spain.

Digital engagement metrics also improved: average monthly audio downloads reached 50 million (+10%), average monthly listening hours rose to 100 million (+4%) and video views climbed to 222 million per month (+22%). These figures illustrate the group’s continued pivot toward multimedia and audio-based digital consumption.

However, profitability in the media division weakened. Reported EBITDA fell to €50 million, down from €57 million in 2024, mainly due to restructuring costs and rising operating expenses. Excluding severance costs, EBITDA remained roughly stable at €58 million, indicating that the core media business itself did not deteriorate significantly.

PRISA Media Financial Performance

Source: PRISA FY2025 results report

Several aspects of PRISA’s 2025 results deserve closer attention, particularly from a media-industry perspective. First, digital transformation is advancing but slowly. Despite strong growth in subscriptions at El País, digital revenue still represented only 28% of PRISA Media revenue, indicating that advertising remains overwhelmingly dominant in the business model.

Second, audience engagement is rising while traffic declines. Interestingly, average monthly unique browsers fell by 15%, even as video consumption, audio listening and downloads increased significantly. This suggests a shift toward deeper engagement from fewer users rather than pure traffic growth.

Third, restructuring continues to shape profitability. Severance costs increased sharply in 2025, reflecting ongoing reorganization efforts across both the media and education divisions. These costs obscure the fact that underlying EBITDA actually improved modestly once restructuring charges are excluded.

Fourth, currency exposure remains a structural risk. Foreign exchange fluctuations reduced group revenues by €46.9 million and EBITDA by €12.1 million, highlighting the vulnerability of PRISA’s Latin American operations to currency depreciation, particularly in Argentina and Brazil.

Finally, debt remains the group’s central financial constraint. Despite refinancing efforts and a capital increase in early 2025 used to repay high-cost debt, leverage remains high, with net debt exceeding €750 million and the leverage ratio above four times EBITDA.

Overall, PRISA’s 2025 results portray a media group that is gradually stabilizing its core journalism businesses while continuing to struggle with structural financial pressures. Digital subscriptions at El País and strong radio audiences demonstrate the resilience of its media brands, but profitability remains constrained by restructuring costs, currency exposure, and a still-heavy debt burden.