Fast Forward - Germany

Ad market decline pushes Bertelsmann into loss

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:08:00 --0100

German media giant Bertelsmann has reported a net loss of �368 million for the first half of 2009, as declining advertising markets and slowing consumer spending conspired to batter its fortunes. During the same period last year, the company made a net profit of as much as �284m, so this was quite a turnaround, exacerbated by restructuring charges. Revenue was down by 6.7% at �7.2bn. The RTL division was particularly badly hit by the ad downturn over the period, as was Gruener & Jahr, in which Bertelsmann owns a majority stake.

Axel Springer defies crisis

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:30:00 --0100

Despite a slow market environment, Berlin-based media group Axel Springer reported a 8.1% rise in revenue for the nine months ended September 2008. Net profit more than tripled year-on-year to �561 million, thanks to a divestment gain; in May, the group sold its minority stake in pan-European broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1. Commenting on the the results, Dr. Mathias Döpfner, Chief Executive Officer of Axel Springer, said:

During the first nine months Axel Springer grew dynamically and also organically, that is excluding acquisitions while retaining a high level of profitability. Our EBITDA rose by 4.1% when the dividend from ProSiebenSat.1 Media is left out of the equation. But the advertising market has deteriorated significantly during the third quarter. The fact that were are able to confirm our guidance for 2008 in the currently slow market environment is unusual and a clear confirmation of our strategy.

Premiere issues profit warning

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:20:00 --0100

German pay-TV operator Premiere has issued a surprise profit warning along with a statement that it was being forced to renegotiate its debt facilities and an admission that its subscriber numbers are much lower than it has previously claimed. EBITDA for the full year is now projected at minus �40m-�70m. Shares in the company fell by more than half on the news, and the CFO has resigned. News Corp currently owns just over 25% of the company.

News Corp buys into German pay-TV

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:13:00 --0100

News Corp has re-entered the German pay-TV market by purchasing a 14.6% stake in Premiere - Germany's main supplier of premium television services - for �287 million. Through its subsidiary BSkyB News Corp used to hold a stake in the Kirch Group, which owned Premiere until the Group went bankrupt in 2002, leaving News Corp £1 billion out of pocket. Premiere has prospered under its new owners, however, and News Corp clearly expects it to have a bright future.

Pearson in talks to sell its 50% stake in FT Deutschland

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:27:00 --0100

Pearson is in talks to sell its 50% stake in FT Deutschland, the German-language version of its Financial Times newspaper, to magazine publisher Spiegel-Verlag Rudolf Augstein. The deal would effectively hand control of the paper to media company Bertelsmann. Spiegel-Verlag is 25.5% owned by magazine group Gruner + Jahr, which owns the other half of FT Deutschland. Bertelsmann owns 75% of Gruner + Jahr.

Football broadcasting in Germany under investigation

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:30:00 --0100

Premiere - the main provider of premium television in Germany - is to stop marketing Bundesliga football (its main attraction) to new satellite customers while the German Federal Cartel Office investigates the football distribution arrangements. Premiere used to hold the rights to broadcast Bundesliga football itself, and this coverage was pivotal in attracting many of the 3.3 million subscribers it had by December 2005. However, at that point Premiere lost the rights to Arena, a subsidiary of cable operator Unity Media. Eventually, in February 2007 Arena - at the time only available to Unity Media's 5.5 million subscribers, out of Germany's 35 million television homes - reached a deal with Premiere, allowing Premiere to redistribute the football broadcasts to homes connected to other cable operators and homes with satellite television. In return Arena gained a 16.7% stake in Premiere. This is the deal that has aroused the Cartel Office's concern, and which it is now investigating. Premiere will continue to supply the matches to existing subscribers, and will market them to new cable customers, but will not market them to new satellite customers.

ProSiebensat.1 reports strong Q4 results

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:44:00 --0100

German media giant ProSiebenSat.1, which operates the four free-to-air TV channels Sat.1, ProSieben, Kanal 1 and N24, has reported its figures for Q4 2006. Net profit was up 17% to �113.4 million on revenue 3% higher at �657.1 million. Kabel 1 performed particularly well, enjoying a 62% leap in EBITDA year-on-year on turnover of �80.3 million, 12% higher than a year earlier. ProSieben has attributed the increased profitability at its stations to "improved cost management".