Mediaset moves its registered office to the Netherlands. This was decided by the Biscione board of directors who will submit the proposal to the shareholders’ meeting on 23 June. Moreover, already last year, Mediaset had tried to bring MediaForEurope to the Netherlands, the holding company in the company would have liked to concentrate all its activities and shareholdings.
The project, however, failed due to Vivendi’s appeal on the merger between Mediaset and the Spanish subsidiary in the newco. Now, the Biscione board of directors has unanimously established that “it is fundamental for the Group’s strategy to access an ecosystem, with a governance model inspired by the best international standards and in line with that adopted by Mediaset to date” which could generate benefits for shareholders, explains the television group in a press release issued for the 2020 accounts.
The date of the meeting is the same as that already called to approve the financial statements and launch the new Board of Directors of the group. The new registered office was identified in Amsterdam “to be realized through the adoption by the company of the legal form of a ‘naamloze vennootschap’ governed by Dutch law, and the adoption of a new statute conforming to Dutch law”. Following the transfer, the company’s shares will remain listed on the Mercato Telematico Azionario organized and managed by Borsa Italiana. In Italy, the effective seat and tax residence will also remain, with a transfer that “will take place without interruption of the existing legal relationships”, specifies Mediaset.
Meanwhile, in 2020 Mediaset recorded revenues of 2,636 million against the 2,925 of the previous year, with a net profit of 139 million against 190 in 2019. Total costs in Italy are down by 6.8%, while the ‘free cash flow group grows to 311 million. A large positive result is expected for advertising sales also in the second quarter of this year, with the group aiming “in 2021 to further strengthen its economic results and cash generation thanks also to constant cost control”.
Between January and March, consolidated advertising revenues generated by all the group’s licensees grew by 6.1%. For Publitalia ’80 it is the third consecutive quarter with increasing revenues “despite a market context strongly conditioned by the health emergency”, with the pandemic that in detail has slowed down radio revenues more than television, which alone would have marked a greater growth than the general figure.