By the end of June 2024, full-time employment in: Agora Capital Group totaled 2,414 full-time positions. In the first half of the year it decreased significantly: at the end of December last year there were 2,581 full-time positions in the company, and at the end of March this year – 2,438.
Layoffs at Agora cost over PLN 8 million
It means that In half a year, employment decreased by 167 positions, or 6.5%. As Agora reported in the report, this is mainly the result of the mass layoffs carried out in February and March of this year, which covered approximately 180 people: 150 from “Gazeta Wyborcza” and 30 from Gazeta.pl.
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As we have already described, as part of the layoffs, Agora fired almost all employees of the proofreading department, about 20 employees of the Warsaw printing house, as well as many journalists, including: most of the people from the BIQdata.pl team, Katarzyna Wężyk, Anna J. Dudek, Donata Subbotko and Jacek Szczerba.
The sale to Grupa Pracuj in early January this year also resulted in the reduction of employment. 80 percent shares of the recruitment company HRlink. The transaction price was PLN 6.2 million.
These layoffs cost Agora PLN 8.3 million in the first half of 2024, of which PLN 0.2 million were in the second quarter.
At the end of June last year, employment in the Agora group amounted to 2,593 full-time positions. This means that last year, it decreased by 179 positions, or 6.9%.
More employees at Agora, decrease only at “Gazeta Wyborcza”
Despite a significant reduction in employment Agora Group’s employee expenses increased. In the second quarter of this year, they reached PLN 109.8 million, an increase of 4.6 percent over a year ago (PLN 105 million).
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In the company’s film and book segment, which primarily includes: Helios Cinemas chainproducer and distributor Next Film and publisher of books and records, quarterly expenses in this area increased by 18.3% year-on-year – from PLN 21.3 to PLN 25.2 million. – The increase in this cost category was mainly related to film exploitation due to the increase in costs for full-time salaries and commissions, mainly as a result of the increase in the minimum wage and the variable element of employee remuneration. Costs for remunerations and benefits were also higher at Editora Agora and in the catering and cinema activities – as calculated in the Agora report.
Personnel costs in the radio division increased from PLN 22.8 to PLN 26 million, or by 14%. The company noted that fixed salaries and costs for courses, trainings and conferences increased primarily.
In the outdoor advertising division, employee expenses in the second quarter of this year reached PLN 9.6 million, growing by 6.7% year-on-year. from PLN 9 million. The report indicated that both the fixed salaries and the prime minister’s salaries increased (“due to the greater achievement of the assumed sales targets”).
For this in the print and digital press segment, which primarily includes “Gazeta Wyborcza”, employee expenses in the last quarter decreased by 5.5% compared to the previous year. – from PLN 23.6 million to PLN 22.3 million. – The largest decrease was recorded in the costs of base salaries and variable elements of this component, which is a result of the lower level of employment compared to the same period in 2023 – the report indicates.
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In turn, in the Internet division, quarterly expenses for salaries, bonuses, social security and other employee benefits were the same as last year – PLN 14.1 million.
Agora Capital Group in the second quarter of 2024 with a revenue increase of 3.2%. improved EBITDA and operating profit, but due to unfavorable changes in exchange rates, it had a net loss of PLN 8.1 million. The company earned much more than a year ago from advertising, catering and film distribution.
