Alter Ego Media — Strategy driving growth and higher profitability

Alter Ego Media (ATHENS: AEM)

Last close As at 21/09/2026

EUR6.40

0.01 (0.16%)

Market capitalisation

EUR376m

More on this equity

Research: TMT

Alter Ego Media — Strategy driving growth and higher profitability

The key takeaway from Alter Ego Media’s H126 results is the transformation strategy is showing through clearly in the figures. Management’s aim is to evolve the group from a traditional, advertising-dependent media company into a broader media and entertainment business with more diverse revenue streams and higher profitability. Advertising represented c 83% of group revenue in H126, down from 88% in FY25, as Live Entertainment made its first H1 contribution and television programme licensing almost doubled. At the same time, the acquisitions of NEWSIT and TLIFE have strengthened AEM’s position in digital publishing, while the core Broadcasting and Content Creation (BCC) division generated materially higher profitability despite modest revenue growth. We have increased our FY26 to FY28 EBITDA estimates by c 1%, which feeds through to an increase in our estimated fair value to €7.3 per share, from €7.1 previously.

Written by

Russell Pointon

Director of Content, Consumer and Media

Media

H126 results

22 September 2026

Price €6.40
Market cap €375m

Net cash/(debt) at 30 June 2026 including IFRS 16 liabilities

€2.7m

Shares in issue

58.7m
Free float 26.4%
Code AEM
Primary exchange ATHENS
Secondary exchange N/A
Price Performance
% 1m 3m 12m
Abs (0.8) 15.2 5.9
52-week high/low €6.7 €4.8

Business description

Alter Ego Media owns media assets in broadcasting and content production, newspaper and magazine publishing and live entertainment. It also invests in technology startups that have the potential to change industries or have media-heavy business models.

Next events

FY26 results

April 2027

Analysts

Russell Pointon
+44 (0)20 3077 5700
Chloe Wong
+44 (0)20 3077 5700

Alter Ego Media is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited

Note: EBITDA and fully diluted EPS are reported.

Year end Revenue (€m) EBITDA (€m) EPS (€) DPS (€) EV/EBITDA (x) P/E (x) Yield (%)
12/24 124.4 46.7 0.25 0.10 8.0 25.1 1.6
12/25 140.1 53.7 0.35 0.12 6.9 18.5 1.9
12/26e 172.5 68.0 0.45 0.20 5.5 14.3 3.1
12/27e 179.3 74.4 0.57 0.23 5.0 11.3 3.5

Progress evident across all three divisions in H126

Our initiation in June 2026 highlighted management’s strategy and growth aspirations. The H126 results show a strong financial performance: revenue increased by c 25% to €74.0m, EBITDA rose c 47% to €25.1m and operating profit more than doubled to €8.5m. Publishing was the strongest contributor to the overall improvement through a combination of impressive and better-than-expected underlying advertising growth complemented by the consolidation of NEWSIT and TLIFE, which combined to drive a c 82% increase in divisional EBITDA. BCC increased revenue by a more modest c 3%, all from the growth in licensing of its TV programmes, which is in line with management’s strategy of leveraging its content production assets, but EBITDA rose by 26% as costs were controlled. Live Entertainment contributed €6.2m of revenue and €1.5m of EBITDA.

Publishing drives forecast upgrade

We make a number of adjustments to our revenue growth estimates for FY26, which feed through to our estimates for future years. Publishing’s c 26% underlying advertising growth in H126 prompts us to increase our FY26 growth estimate to 14% from 6% previously. Management’s firm control of operating costs means we make no material changes to our BCC profit estimates despite reducing our FY26 advertising growth estimate to 3% from 5.5% previously. These changes lead to a c 1% increase in our EBITDA estimates for FY26 to FY28.

Valuation: Upgrades lead to increase in fair value

The increase in our profit forecasts, the roll forward of AEM’s financial position and updates to peer valuation multiples lead to an increase in our DCF and sum-of-the parts valuations to €7.3 per share from €7.1 per share previously.

Underlying growth and M&A drive strong H126 growth

Alter Ego Media enjoyed a strong H126 with revenue growth of c 25% to €74.0m, EBITDA growth of c 47% to €25.1m and operating profit more than doubled to €8.5m, due to a combination of good underlying growth and the first-time contribution of acquisitions made in H225 and H126.

Acquisitions in the Publishing and Live Entertainment divisions contributed €3.6m and €6.2m of incremental revenue, respectively, in H126, which implies healthy underlying revenue growth at just over 8%. The acquisitions contributed €1.5m incremental EBITDA to both Publishing and Live Entertainment, indicating strong underlying growth in EBITDA of over 29% in H126. A combination of mix benefits, from the addition of the higher-margin acquisitions, and a decline in operating costs relative to revenue led to a notable increase in the EBITDA margin to 34.0% from 28.8% in H125.

Depreciation and amortisation expenses were broadly stable, relative to revenue, therefore the operating margin increased by c 470bp to 11.4% from 6.7% in H125. An increase in the net finance charge and contributions from associates meant the improvement in the profit before tax margin was slightly lower at 430bp, increasing to 9.1% in H126 from 4.8% in H125, than the increase in the operating margin. A reduction in the effective tax rate led to a greater increase of 600bp in the profit after tax margin to 8.1% from 2.1% in H125, however there was some offset further down the income statement with the increased minority charge.

The significant increase in attributable profit to €5.4m from €1.3m in H125, complemented by the share buyback, led to a more than fourfold increase in EPS to €0.09 from €0.02 in H125.

Broadcasting and Content Creation: Muted revenue growth, strong cost control

The Broadcasting and Content Creation division had relatively muted revenue growth of c 3% in H126, with a significant increase in licensing offsetting a minor decline in advertising revenue. We believe Mega retained its leading audience share during the period, therefore the decline in advertising reflects a less buoyant advertising market. Operating costs were well controlled, declining in both absolute terms and relative to revenue, giving a significant 740bp improvement in EBITDA margin to 40.6%.

As a result of the H126 performance, we have trimmed our FY26 growth estimate to 3% from 5.5% previously, but broadly have maintained our absolute EBITDA estimate to take account of the better cost control.

Publishing: Advertising strength drives forecast upgrade

The Publishing division delivered a strong performance from the perspective of advertising, which increased by 49%, or by 26% on an underlying basis when we eliminate the first-time revenue contribution from acquisitions, and circulation with a moderation in the rate of decline to c 4% from 7–8% seen through FY25. The underlying advertising performance in H126 is well ahead of our prior estimate for 6% underlying growth. Therefore we have upgraded our underlying growth estimate for FY26 to c 14%, which incorporates c 6% growth in H226.

Operating costs improved relative to revenue and the EBITDA margin increased to 25.8% from 19.7% in H125 due to the first-time contribution of the higher-margin acquisitions and an improved underlying EBITDA margin.

Live Entertainment

The Live Entertainment division is relatively new, following the acquisitions of a 40% stake in Stages Network in October 2025 and a majority, 50.1% stake in More.gr in March 2026.

Cash flow and balance sheet

AEM’s higher profitability and more favourable working capital movement contributed to a strong improvement in operating cash and free cash generation relative to revenue.

Management has deployed its balance sheet in M&A, commenced an annual dividend in FY25 and began a share buyback programme in H126. Therefore by the end of H126, its net cash position was €2.7m versus €30.7m at the end of FY25.

Valuation

In our June 2026 initiation we highlighted that AEM’s combination of assets across different verticals meant there are few direct comparators against which its valuation can be directly assessed. We derived a valuation of €7.10 per share from an equal weighting of our DCF-based valuation and our SOTP valuation, which were both €7.10 per share at the time.

Our updated DCF-based analysis, which reflects the changes to our estimates and the roll forward of the company’s financial position, now suggests a valuation of €7.30 per share. Our estimated weighted average cost of capital is unchanged at 11.0%, however a number of the key inputs have changed. The risk-free rate has increased to 4.1% from 3.6% previously, and the Greek equity risk premium has fallen to 6.9% (source: Damodaran) from 7.1% previously.

Our updated SOTP valuation, based on FY27 estimates due to FY26 not including the full contribution from acquisitions, has increased to €7.30 per share.

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This report has been commissioned by Alter Ego Media and prepared and issued by Edison, in consideration of a fee payable by Alter Ego Media. Edison Investment Research standard fees are £60,000 pa for the production and broad dissemination of a detailed note (Outlook) following by regular (typically quarterly) update notes. Fees are paid upfront in cash without recourse. Edison may seek additional fees for the provision of roadshows and related IR services for the client but does not get remunerated for any investment banking services. We never take payment in stock, options or warrants for any of our services.

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