SOLOCAL_Registration Document_2017

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SOLOCAL, LOCAL DIGITAL PARTNER TRUSTED BY BUSINESSES 1.1 History and development

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 1.1

Originally known under the name Office d’Annonces (ODA), the Group subsequently changed its name to PagesJaunes Groupe in 2000, then SoLocal Group in 2013. The Group has been offering a diversified range of products and services to its individual and business customers since 1896 and the creation of the ODA, and has adapted its business model and its strategy over time, in an environment, in particular technological, undergoing major change. In 1946, the French Postal Service, Telegraph and Telephone Ministry awarded the advertizing business of French directories to the ODA. Advertizing in directories had developed continuously since 1946 due to growth in consumption and in the advertizing market in France but also thanks to the increase in directory distribution associated with the increase in the number of phone subscribers. The steady increase in ODA’s sales was due in particular to its ability to adapt its economic model and strategy to the emergence of new technologies. The 1980’s notably saw the launch of Minitel, the precursor to the advertizing market on the Internet. The first advertizing offers on the Internet were launched in 1996. The Group’s Internet media PagesJaunes.fr was created in 1997. In addition, the Group extended its range of advertizing services beyond business directories, integrating a range of digital marketing services. In 1998, Havas group, which had historically owned all the share capital in ODA since its creation, sold its holding to Cogecom, a subsidiary of France Télécom. The Group has been listed since 2004 on the Euronext market and France Telecom sold its residual stake in the Group in 2006 to KKR and Goldman Sachs through a SoLocal Group is a leading French local digital advertizing player, providing digital content, advertizing solutions and transactional services that connect consumers with local businesses. The Group operates in two business segments, Internet and Print & Voice, through which it offers a full range of advertizing services and products to businesses in a wide range of sectors, including housing, retail, healthcare and public services, consumer services and business services. In 2017, the Group had approximately 2,428 million visits on its main Internet sites (excluding the audience coming from AVendreALouer.fr). The Group is able to attract customers by capitalizing on its proprietary databases which gather over 4.2 million local professionals, a large audience on its major media and proprietary brands (in particular PagesJaunes and Mappy), but also thanks to strong partnerships with the major search engines on the Internet and social media (including Bing, Google, Yahoo!, Apple and Facebook). Lastly, the Group has a portfolio of over 450,000 sites and store locators created for its customers. BUSINESS OVERVIEW 1.2

leveraged buy-out. In 2014, the Group completed a financial restructuring (including a capital increase for a total of €440 million) that enabled it to significantly reduce its debt. In 2015, the Group disposed of certain non-profitable and low-growth Internet businesses. In 2017, SoLocal Group successfully completed a new financial restructuring, reducing by two-thirds the remainder of its debt inherited from the 2006 leveraged buy-out. Starting in 2010, the Group initiated its digital revolution and acquired several businesses to expand its digital services operations: embauche.com, AVendreALouer.fr, ClicRDV.com, Fine Media, publisher of the ComprendreChoisir.com website (renamed “Ooreka”), Chronoresto, Leadformance. More recently, in 2016, the Group acquired Effilab, an online advertizing agency specializing in the management of campaigns on search engines and social media. As part of the development strategy of the Group, some of these assets were disposed of after 2015 (including AVendreALouer.fr and Chronoresto, both in 2017). Over the same period, the Group started developing major partnerships with global Internet players, in particular Microsoft, Google, Apple and Facebook. The Group’s internet revenues increased from 48% of total revenues in 2010 (continued activities) to 84% in 2017, moving gradually from the publication, distribution and sale of advertizing space in printed directories (PagesJaunes and PagesBlanches), to digital communication and, from 2018, to a comprehensive range of “full web” digital services for businesses. The Group aims to become the local leading digital partner for French businesses to support their growth. To achieve this vision, it has begun reorganizing its product and service ranges into new lines of digital services. The Group intends to develop its digital offerings by covering the entire web and deploying these offerings across all markets. Following this reorganization, the Group’s activities will be structured around five complementary service lines: Digital Presence, Digital Advertizing, Websites, Digital Solutions and Print to Digital. Through these five lines of services, the Group intends to meet increasing demand and changing technologies, and remain the preferred partner for its customers’ digital growth. For the year ended 31 December 2017, the Group generated €755.8 million in revenues from continued activities, €196.0 million in Recurring EBITDA and a Recurring EBITDA margin of 25.9%. In 2017, the Group had approximately 469,000 customers (number of average customers of the period considered having subscribed to an Internet product) and recorded an average reach on its media platforms of 55% on all Internet users in France (according to Médiamétrie Nielsen).

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2017 Registration Document SOLOCAL