THE FIAT GROUP IN

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Alberto Nicolello,
Itedi’s Chief Executive Officer.
Publishing and
Communications
Fiat has been active in the publishing business since
1926, when it established Editrice La Stampa, the
eponymous publisher of Turin’s newspaper.
OPERATING PERFORMANCE
In 2001, sales of Italian newspapers totaled about six million
copies a day, roughly the same as in the previous year. The
print advertising market, which had expanded during the
preceding five years, reversed this trend and contracted by
about 3%. However, conditions varied in the different market
segments.
Editrice La Stampa S.p.A. reported an average daily
circulation of more than 406,000 copies, up from 390,000
copies in 2000. Most of the gains came from the national
edition (all of Italy, except for the Piedmont, Liguria and Valle
d’Aosta Regions). The main developments of 2001 included
new business tie-ins linking La Stampa with local newspapers
in major Italian cities (Bologna, Florence and Mantua) and an
increase in La Stampa’s newsstand price from 0.77 euros
to 0.88 euros. This increase went into effect at the beginning
of December to offset, at least in part, higher paper prices,
which have risen by about 22% compared with 2000, and
the cost of adding pages to the newspaper. In addition, the
Sector continued to carry out a series of projects designed
to improve product quality, broaden the newspaper readership
base (contests for students) and increase reader loyalty
(bonus coupon programs). At the same time, it reduced the
Itedi
Highlights
(in millions of euros) 2001 2000 1999
Net revenues 347 354 413
Operating income (loss) (2) 10 17
as a % of revenues
Net income (loss) before
(0.6) 2.8 4.1
minority interest (6) 2 11
Cash flow 1 8 19
Capital expenditures 6 17 8
Net invested capital 49 46 25
Number of employees 934 954 934
Revenues by business unit
0 50 100%
Newspaper publishing Advertising
Itedi is focused on growing its publishing operations by accelerating
the national expansion of La Stampa and increasing the advertising
billings it generates on behalf of non-captive customers.
number of promotions of publishing-related products
packaged with the newspaper.
The magazine Specchio, which has been distributed free
of charge with La Stampa since September 2000, enjoyed
a significant increase in circulation, with a positive impact on
advertising revenues and newspaper sales on its publication
days.
Toward the end of the year, Editrice La Stampa launched a
reorganization program the main benefits of which will be felt
primarily in 2002.
Revenues from sales of newspapers and promotional items
totaled 68 million euros in 2001, about the same as in 2000.
Advertising revenues amounted to 107 million euros (about
1.3% less than in 2000), accounting for 60% of Editrice
La Stampa’s total revenues. This improvement was made
possible by the increased contribution of Specchio, which
offset a decline in newspaper advertising.
In 2001, Publikompass S.p.A. booked advertising billings
totaling 278 million euros, or 1.5% less than in 2000, but
not all media segments performed equally. Advertising
was up 125% for television (bookings for the Stream digital
channels more than tripled), but decreased for newspapers
(-4.3%), periodicals (-12.8%) and the Internet (-44%).