Bastei Lübbe : Financial Reports 2023/2024 Annual Report

ANNUAL REPORT

2023/24

AT A

GLANCE

KEY FIGURES BASTEI LÜBBE GROUP

Financial indicators (IFRS) in EUR millions	2023/2024	2022/2023	Change
Revenues	110.3	100.0	10.3%
EBIT	14.0	7.2	94.4%
EBIT margin (%)	12.7%	7.2%	5.5 Pp
Net profit for the period	8.8	4.0	121.5%
Total assets as of 31 March	103.9	107.9	-3.7%
Equity* as of 31 March	61.6	55.0	12.0%
Equity ratio (%) as of 31 March*	59.2%	51.0%	8.3 Pp
Net financial assets as of 31 March	16.5	16.7	-1.3%
Free cash flow	4.2	9.7	-56.4%
Other indicators
Earnings per share** (EUR)	0.66	0.30	120.0%
Share price at the end of the fiscal year (EUR)	6.45	4.61	39.9%
Employees as of 31 March	323	321	0.6%

*incl. equity attributable to non-controlling interests

**Calculation see notes to the consolidated financial statements, Note no. 15

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR FINANCIAL YEAR 2023/2024

Doing things together! 2023 was very special for Bas- tei Lübbe as it was the year in which we celebrated our 70th anniversary. We took this opportunity to publish a chronicle that vividly tells the history of our publishing company by reference to selected titles through seven eventful decades.

APRIL 2023

On the occasion of the Lon- don Book Fair in April 2023, top-sellingauthor Ken Fol- lett hosted a reception for his international publishers at his London home to give them an insight into the research that had gone into this novel "The Weapons of

Light", which was published a few months later, and to join him in toasting his new work.

The North and Baltic Seas provided the backdrop to many a murder in the detective stories by Eva Almstädt, Sabine Weiss and Emmi Johannsen. All three authors had released new novels in the spring, presenting their books in April in a conversation with cultural affairs journalist Margarete von Schwarzkopf. We brought the German coast into our company's foyer for that evening.

MAY

Comeback of the Queen of Romantic Comedy! After a protracted break, we were finally able to publish a novel by top-sellingauthor Petra Hülsmann in May: "Morgen mach ich bessere Fehler" ("Tomorrow I'll make better mistakes") occupied the top ranks of the Spiegel bestseller list immediately after its release, as did its six predecessors. This alone was cause for great joy, heightened only by the fact that, after a long spell of mental illness with which she dealt in admirable openness, Petra Hülsmann is healthy again and feeling very well, delighting her fans with a small reading tour.

JUNE

A quarter of all fourth-graders have considerable reading difficulties! This is exactly why we have been involved in

Stifterrat der Stiftung Lesen (Reading Foundation Council) since June 2023.The aim of the foundation is to give children and young people access to reading so that they can take their futures into their own hands. The meeting of the foundation members was held in Berlin on 27 June. Carla Scheunemann, Managing Director of Community Editions, and Mathias Siebel, Publishing Director of Children's and Young People's Books, took part and are pleased to be able to contribute their passion for reading to this committee.

In July, we celebrated another great birthday, when our "ghost hunter John Sinclair" turned 50. On this occasion, 800 Sinclair fans flocked to Cologne- Mülheim to celebrate authors and speakers - and of course to pay homage to Sinclair creator Jason Dark. The crowning glory of this successful event was the live audio play on the club stage featuring Katy Karrenbauer, Dietmar Wunder and many other celebrities.

AUGUST

On 31 August, we held our summer party with all our employees inside and in front of our headquarters in Carlswerk. Bathed in sunshine, with a spread of mouthwatering eats from diverse food trucks and a dash of sports activities, the vibe was absolutely electric. The highlight of the evening was the performance by Cologne band Druckluft.

JULY

First launched in 2022, the LYX pop-uptour event format came back for a second time in July 2023. Once again, a complete LYX world for the community was set up in five German cities for one day, allowing visitors to experience the new adult label live. Hamburg, Dresden, Cologne, Stuttgart and Nuremberg were the venues for the exclusive pop-up stores in the summer of 2023. Numerous LYX authors accompanied us, meeting their fans during signing sessions and discussions.

SEPTEMBER

Mathis Gerkensmeyer took up his position as new Chief Financial Officer on 1 September. A graduate in business administration and a financial expert with a proven track record, he joined Bastei Lübbe AG after holding posts

at Axel Springer SE, Hamburg/Berlin, and the portfolio company Runtastic GmbH and thus completes the management team headed by Soheil Das- tyari, Sandra Dittert and Simon Decot.

Once again, we welcomed our shareholders to our annual general meeting on 13 September at DOCK2 in Cologne. The Executive Board outlined the figures for the previous financial year, provided updates on current trends and described the success of the community-driven business models. This was the first time that the Executive Board attended an annual general meeting in its current line-up. The election of new members to the Supervisory Board was also on the agenda. Carsten Dentler, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bastei Lübbe AG since September 2022, was up for re-election. Dr Melanie Bockemühl and Dr Ralph Drouven were new candidates for election to the Supervisory Board. All three were elected with a large majority.

In their environmental thrillers, the octopus plays the title role. On 29 Septem- ber, the two top-sellingauthors Dirk Rossmann and Ralf Hoppe launched their new novel "Der Zorn des Oktopus" ("The Wrath of the Octopus") at a large-scale event in Kappeln an der Schlei, once again holding up a mirror to us all and emphasising that there is nothing more urgent than the need to protect the environment. They were supported by numerous celebrities, scientists and influencers, all of whom made their personal contribution to environmental protection and introduced themselves to the audience. On this day, the two authors founded "The Club of the Octopus" with those present.

OCTOBER

Further anniversaries were on the agenda in 2023: in October we celebrated ten years of being listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Back on 8 October 2013, publisher Stefan Lüb- be and his wife Birgit had rung the famous bell on the stock market floor after the price of the share was fixed for the first time, thus signalling the company's arrival at the Frankfurt stock ex- change.

The Frankfurt Book Fair opened its doors from 18 to 22 October. Bastei Lübbe AG presented its new stand, which was very popular and attracted large crowds!

NOVEMBER

In conjunction with ZEIT Leo, we marked the publication of the 18th volume of "Diaries of a Wimpy Child" by organising a competition for the world's first Greg Heffley school. In their entries, students had to explain why their school should win the title. The arguments put forward by Gymnasium Markt

Indersdorf school convinced the jury. The prize included a visit to the school by the US super- star. Jeff attended a big party with the winners on 20 November. It was an unforgettable day of singing, dancing and quizzes, as Jeff Kinney is not only a great writer but also a born entertai- ner.

DECEMBER

Our Community Editions imprint, the most successful specialist in publications by social media artists, opened a new online shop called "humble but bold", which includes calendars and postcards as well as other non-book products created by influencers. The first humblebutbold collection went live in De- cember!

The German Federal Government's Kul- turPass: LYX is number one with 18-year -olds! An amount of 200 euros can be redeemed for cultural events from anyone who lived in Germany and turned 18 in 2023. It can be used at each individual's own discretion to buy tickets for concerts, theatre performances, cinemas, museums or parks, as well as books, records, sheet music or musical instruments. An evaluation shows that books accounted for half of the revenues. What we find particularly gratifying is that our new adult label LYX was very popular with the 18-year-olds who made KulturPass purchases. Hannah Grace's novel "Icebreaker" was the top title among the books purchased.

JANUARY 2024

What a great year! 4th place for Bastei Lübbe in the Spiegel list of top-sellingpublishers in 2023 - how fantastic is that? What a great achievement by the whole team, especially since there are two publishing groups ahead of us on the list. Our sincere thanks go to book retailers and, of course, to our readers for their confidence and passion for great stories!

FEBRUARY

Bastei Lübbe participated in the #Zusammenland - Vielfalt macht uns stark initiative ("Togetherland - Diversity makes us strong"), thus taking a stand against right-wing extremism. Together with the strong initiators ZEIT Verlagsgruppe, Süd- deutsche Zeitung, Handelsblatt, WirtschaftsWoche and Verlag Der Tagesspiegel, we are committed to freedom, diversity and a welcoming culture. We think it's great that over 500 companies, foundations, associations and NGOs also joined this initiative in a very short space of time. We attach importance to clearly expressing our values by participating in the nationwide campaign organised by the leading German media. Hatred, exclusion, right-wing slogans and hate speech have no place in our world!

The Leipzig Book Fair took place from 21 to 24 March and - as always - was a huge reading festival. We were delighted when Claudia Roth, the German Federal Minister of

MARCH

State for Culture, paid us a visit, learned about the LYX label and was given a copy of the novel "Icebreaker"

• the book that topped the list of all KulturPass purchases.

After successfully repositioning itself, our Eichborn imprint excelled with a highly acclaimed programme and numerous highlights, including the books by award-winning US author Rebecca F. Kuang. Out of sheer enthusiasm for her new novel "Yellowface", we wrapped our headquarters, our Siebter Himmel bookstore and our stand at the Leipzig Book Fair in yellow - and are looking forward to great success with Eichborn programme manager Dominique Pleimling!

Sustainability is very important for us. We produce our books sustainably and use paper from sustainable forestry. We do not wrap our books in film. In addition, we only print in Germany and in other EU countries and work continuously with manufacturers to achieve a favourable ecological footprint. Our books bear our newly developed sustainability seal to highlight these measures, which are important to us.