Moody's withdraws its negative view on Prisa after its restructuring
Madrid, Jan 15 (EFE) .- The risk rating agency Moody's has changed its perspective on Prisa this Friday, which goes from negative to stable, after the restructuring of its debt, even so it keeps the company sunk in the bond garbage, "Caa1" on its scale.
This note is typical of companies with a very weak financial position and subject to a very high credit risk, but Moody's appreciates that Prisa has recently extended the maturity of its debt, eliminating the risk of a short-term restructuring, which improves your vision of the company.
On December 2, the Prisa group informed the CNMV that it had signed with all the creditors involved the agreement agreed in October to refinance debt for 1,148 million euros, which will allow it to reduce that figure by 30% and postpone the maturity until 2025, as well as the sale of Santillana Spain.
The sale of Santillana to the Finnish company Sanoma, closed on December 31 for 465 million euros, will have a positive impact on Prisa's accounts of 360 million, somewhat below the 385 million initially calculated.
In its report published this Friday, Moody's insists that Prisa's level of indebtedness remains "very high", although it has been reduced by almost 30%, and that the business has also weakened after the sale of Santillana, which explains its note so low.
The financial situation remains very fragile and Moody's estimates that the revenues of Prisa, owner of El País, Cinco Días or As and broadcasters such as Cadena Ser or Los 40, fell by around 30% in 2020, while the operating result -ebitda- adjusted it did it almost 60%, to be between 60 and 70 million.
On the other hand, this Friday it became known that Prisa has sold its Argentine stations to the local businessman Carlos Rosales, owner of the Santamartah Group, without the amount of the operation being revealed.
