apresentação do grupo em Inglês

In 1972, Francisco Pinto Balsemão created Sojornal/Expresso, believing that, in spite of the censorship and difficulties of all order, it was possible to produce a quality weekly newspaper. The newspaper Expresso has become a reference in Portuguese society, and was the starting point of the media group which is today IMPRESA. VASP was created in 1975 to distribute the Expresso, with part of its share capital being acquired by Sojornal in 1981. VASP currently distributes the publications of the Group and dozens of others. Controljornal was established in April of 1988 as the Holding company of the entire Media Group led by Francisco Pinto Balsemão, to unify the different holdings owned by the Group. In 1989, a 'joint-venture' was established with the Brazilian group Abril which gave rise to the birth of the first business magazine in Portugal – Exame – and marked the entry of the Group into the magazine area. In March 1991, the Controljornal share capital was opened to external investors, creating a “super” holding – IMPRESA – which competed for the first private television channels, transforming it into one of the founding shareholders of SIC – Sociedade Independente de Comunicação. SIC broadcasts began in October 1992, making it the first private television channel in Portugal. Its quality, image and independence enabled the station to establish a special relationship with Portuguese television audiences, with SIC gaining leadership of these audiences in 1995, after only three years of broadcasting. During the second half of 1999, IMPRESA took over the control of 51% of the capital of SIC and 37.3% of the economic interest, and opened its capital to new investors. In April 2000, IMPRESA increased its economic interest in SIC to 51%. In June 2000, IMPRESA was admitted into the Lisbon Stock Market. A new cycle of expansion of SIC started in 2001, with the development of new activities. This cycle of expansion enabled SIC, apart from the main channel, to include a further 3 thematic channels – with SIC Notícias being of particular importance (60% held by SIC), the news channel with the leadership of cable television audiences, a satellite channel (SIC Internacional) and interests covering multimedia, merchandising and technical services (GMTS). In 2003, the magazine area was transformed into Edimpresa, with IMPRESA holding 50% of its capital together with the Swiss of Edipress. In mid 2008, IMPRESA acquired the totality of the capital of Edimpresa. This was followed by the merger of the magazine and newspaper activities, under the sub-holding IMPRESA Publishing, which became one of the largest Portugueses publishing companies at the end of 2008, with over 30 publications, including publications such as Expresso, Visão, Caras, Activa and Exame, amongst others. At the end of 2005, IMPRESA acquired the minority position in SIC, increasing its holding to 100% of SIC capital. By the beginning of 2009, SIC bought the totality of the capital of the company holding the SIC Notícias channel. During the 1st quarter of 2007 , IMPRESA created a new business area, under the name of IMPRESA Digital, to concentrate a portfolio of holdings of various companies with activities related to the Internet and new technologies, which have become key assets in the strategy for the digital production and distribution of contents for multiple platforms, as a means to foster the development of the IMPRESAGroup brands in the digital world. By the end of 2008, the IMPRESA Group had become the largest media group in Portugal with a turnover of approximately 273 million euros. The activity is divided into three business areas – SIC, IMPRESA Publishing and IMPRESA Digital, with interests which cover a television, cable channels, the newspaper Expresso, an extensive portfolio of magazines, various Internet properties as well as interests in the distribution.