Football and networking in Barcelona
Last week we attended one of the biggest investor events of the year – the annual Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecoms conference, which has been hosted by the bank in Barcelona for the last 11 years. It has become one of the mainstay events in our annual calendar, and is both a great way to meet our current investors and to introduce MTG to institutions we have not met before. All in all, over 140 companies presented at the conference, with over 550 institutions attending. For our part, we had two days of meetings, which allowed us to interact with Scandinavian, European and American investors. People will of course have varying levels of prior knowledge about the Group, and the meetings offered us an opportunity to both delve deep into the details of our operations, and to present MTG from a 10,000 feet top down perspective.
It’s always useful to attend the big industry events, as you not only get to tell your story, but also get to hear what investors are interested in and concerned about when it comes to your own operations. For our part, a significant proportion of questions related to how MTG is handling the continuing transition of TV viewing from traditional distribution to internet and OTT solutions, and what opportunities we see in the new environment. It is at these times that it’s great to be able to open up Viaplay and show people not a theoretical idea, but an actual working product.
The other topic which drew a lot of attention is of course the outlook for our markets. Investors are keen to understand what will happen in Scandinavia next year, and what we expect from our Emerging markets. Unfortunately, it is still too early to say what will happen next year. As the industry catchphrase goes: “visibility is limited”.
Before the conference started, we also had a chance to invite a number of guests to play a charity football match. Despite heavy rain and several inches of water on the pitch, two teams braved the weather, fiercely fighting soaking boots, water and a ball that would stop rolling after a few meters. In the end, my team won with a final score of 4-2. The event was concluded with a charity auction for MTG United for Peace. We raised 2,100 pounds in proceeds, as well as a kindly gift of 2,000 pounds from our friends at Morgan Stanley, and the money will well deservedly go towards Christmas presents for the children participating in the MTG United for Peace tournament.
Hans-Holger Albrecht
