RTL Group Sees Stable Q1 Results

May 7, 2015 World Screen

LUXEMBOURG: RTL Group's revenue declined just slightly in the latest quarter, with higher sales at RTL Deutschland being offset by lower revenue at Groupe M6 and FremantleMedia.

Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion), down 0.4 percent on the comparable period a year ago. Reported EBITA was slightly up to 194 million euros ($218 million), a gain of 1.6 percent. Net profit attributable to RTL Group shareholders totaled 106 million euros ($119 million), a 16.5 percent increase year-on-year.

RTL Deutschland achieved a new record EBITA, delivering 153 million euros ($172 million), driven be higher TV ad revenues. At Groupe M6, EBITA was up just slightly to 41 million euros ($46 million), with higher contributions from 6ter, M6 and Paris Première being partly offset by lower contributions from diversification activities. RTL Nederland’s EBITA was down to minus 3 million euros ($3.4 million) from the year-ago profit of 6 million euros ($6.8 million), mainly due a weak TV advertising market, lower margins of the diversification business and higher programming costs.

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FremantleMedia’s EBITA decreased to 3 million euros ($3.4 million), mainly due to lower revenue caused by phasing effects on the delivery of programs at FremantleMedia North America and in Europe.

Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch, co-CEOs of RTL Group, commented: "Overall, we had a successful start into the year and slightly increased our operating profit EBITA, mainly driven by another strong performance from Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland.

"During the first months of the year we have been further reinforcing our three strategic pillars: broadcast, content and digital. With Oxygem in France, we boost the digital development of Groupe M6. As digital video monetization becomes more automated, we have extended our presence in April with a minority investment in the start-up Clypd in the US. Clypd complements the rapidly growing business of SpotXchange by adding cutting-edge sales capabilities to place spots into linear TV programmatically. Additionally, FremantleMedia invested in the newly launched Corona TV to strengthen its scripted pipeline with projects that will have cinematic feel. BroadbandTV used funding provided by RTL Group to acquire the leading kids content producer and publisher on Youtube, YoBoHo.

"We still have the capacity to explore more investment opportunities in the rest of the year based on our very healthy financial position. We will continue to do so throughout 2015, applying our strict investment criteria to generate profitable growth.

"We confirm our outlook for the full year 2015 and expect our total revenue and EBITA to be broadly stable."