Social Responsibility
and
Sustainability Report
2018
Social Responsibility
and
Sustainability Report
2018
DEAR FRIENDS:
In this my first letter as Chairman of PRISA, I’d like to stress the crucial importance of this moment in time for the Group and its future prospects. We embark on an exciting new era in 2018, after nearly a decade of global economic crisis and enormous difficulties for the sectors and for the geographical areas in which we operate. This has required significant effort and sacrifice from our shareholders and employees. But such sacrifice has meant that we are now finally able to catch a glimpse of the much-needed financial stability that will allow us to forge ahead with the development of the Group in the long term.
PRISA has a solid project for the future, one that is based on professional talent and a firm commitment to defending the democratic values of freedom and equality, both essential if we are to meet the challenges facing our society, a society which is now part of a broader digital ecosystem and assailed on all sides by confusion, fake news and so-called post-truth.
Our company sets the gold standard throughout Ibero-America for the creation and distribution of quality cultural and educational content that seeks to safeguard the development and progress of all those societies in which we operate.
Since the very outset, our company has actively promoted a wide range of social and cultural endeavors consistent with our business model while also promoting and raising awareness of social issues and sustainable development.
Our work in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility has been recognized and honored repeatedly, and we actively participate in major social platforms, organizations and institutions such as the Global Compact of the United Nations, on whose Executive Committee we sit via its Spanish Network.
Our core operations are tightly linked to the creation of value and service to citizens. Value for our shareholders, our customers and our users, for our employees and for society at large. Testament to our constant innovation is the growth of audiences for all our media and the robust performance of our learning systems in Ibero-America.
I am convinced that PRISA has a future worthy of its prestige and institutional legacy. And I want to thank each and every one of those who are part of the Company for their invaluable contributions, their unceasing effort and commitment, all of which will be essential as the Group steps forward into a decisive new era. I am sure that we will succeed, thanks to your talent and enthusiasm.
Kind regards,
MANUEL POLANCO
Chairman of PRISA
DEAR FRIENDS:
As CEO of PRISA I would like to focus on the present and the future of the Group. In 2017, the Group undertook the final phase of its debt refinancing plan and announced a major capital increase. By the beginning of 2018, all of this had gone according to plan, just as we expected. It means we can now confidently say that we have achieved the necessary financial stability that will allow the management team to focus on the development and expansion of our businesses, which, despite having undergone profound changes, have, nevertheless, all continued to lead in their respective market segments and have seen both their audiences and prestige grow.
PRISA’s management team now faces the challenges of 2018, a year that is set to be a crucial for the Group. But it faces these challenges armed with assets of extraordinary quality.
As clear leader in practically all of Ibero-America, Santillana is an example of innovation and strength, and boasts a business model that strikes the perfect balance between both traditional products and new digital learning systems. These deliver a range of content that comes complete with all the tools necessary to meet the new demands coming from the educational community in Spanish and Portuguese.
El País, which in 2017 reached a record 100 million unique browsers, is leading the digital transformation of the press while maintaining and reinforcing all those values that set it apart in the area of social commitment and the promotion of representative democracy.
Another example of success is the ambitious international expansion plan of As. Celebrating its 50 years of prestige and five decades as the sports newspaper of record in Spain, As has conquered Latin America with its newsrooms in Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Argentina.
The performance of our radio businesses is no less remarkable. Our radio stations are present in 13 countries, offering the most prestigious brands in news, music and sports. PRISA’s radio news brands are undisputed leaders in Spain, Colombia and Chile, and its musical formats also rank as market leaders in Spain and Latin America. Indeed, LOS40 knows no borders and is the most prestigious music brand in the Spanish-speaking world’s radio and concerts sector.
As we embark on this new stage, we will focus our efforts on monetizing our audiences and on driving further international expansion. We will concentrate on building content and projects with high added value for both our customers and our advertisers. We have the best professional teams, we have the know-how and we have the most prestigious brands and audiences. All of which puts us in the best possible position to lead the global market for news, education and entertainment in Spanish and Portuguese.
Kind regards,
MANUEL MIRAT
CEO of PRISA
This Social Responsibility and Sustainability Report provides a faithful and transparent overview of the degree of development of the actions and commitments of PRISA in economic, social and environmental areas over the course of 2017. The data presented here provide a broad summary of the activities and operations of the Group in all the countries where it is present.
GoThis Report has been prepared in accordance with the new GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards at a Comprehensive level as well as the Principles of the Global Compact.
The information of this report should cover aspects that reflect the Group’s significant social, environmental and economic impacts, or those that would substantively influence the assessments and decisions of stakeholders.
Stakeholders are entities or individuals that can reasonably be expected to identify or be linked with PRISA’s activities. The company should endeavor to satisfy the demands and concerns of these groups through the improvement and maintenance of the quality of its products and activities. The reasonable expectations and interests of stakeholders are a basic point of reference for many of the decisions taken when drafting this report.
The report should present the organization’s performance in the wider context of sustainability, and reflect how it contributes via its actions to matters of an environmental, social and economic nature.
The Report’s coverage of the material topics and Indicators and the definition of the report boundary should be sufficient to reflect significant economic, environmental, and social impacts over the course of 2017.
The Report should reflect both positive and negative aspects of organizational performance in order to provide an informed assessment of overall performance.
The information is presented in such a way so that the stakeholders can analyze the evolution of organizational performance, and can do so with respect to other organizations.
The report should present information on management approach, and on economic, environmental, and social indicators in a way that is sufficiently accurate and detailed so that stakeholders may assess organizational performance.
This report provides continuity to those presented in previous years.
The report should present information in a way that is sufficiently understandable by the organization’s range of stakeholders so that these may access information and comprehend it.
For this Sustainability Report, the organization has gathered, analyzed and disclosed information and processes used in the preparation of the report in a way that they can be subject to examination and that establishes the quality and materiality of the information.
