Stable Profits at RTL Group

LUXEMBOURG: Cost-cutting and strong results at FremantleMedia helped the RTL Group mitigate the tough ad climate in 2009, with net profit stable at 298 million euros, on revenues that were down 6.3 percent to 5.4 billion euros.

The results include higher start-up losses, of 46 million euros, largely due to the consolidation of Greece’s Alpha Media Group; and a program write-down at Five of 22 million euros. The year’s results also include a 371 million euros reduction in costs.

“In 2009, RTL Group had to operate in a tough economic environment, in particular during the first half of the year when the TV advertising markets declined at double-digit rates," said Gerhard Zeiler, the CEO of RTL Group. "With a strong year-end finish, RTL Group again achieved good full-year results and continued to operate at high levels of profitability. At the beginning of 2009, in the midst of the economic uncertainty, we made it our top priority to significantly reduce the cost base in our core business of TV broadcasting, without losing audience shares. We have clearly achieved this goal. In almost every country, we actually increased our audience shares as our local management teams combined comprehensive cost cutting with smart programming decisions."

He continued: "The 2009 results across all our countries also show that our industry is flexible and resilient even in difficult situations and is able to master the challenges of the future. RTL Group’s decentralized structure with strong CEOs gives the company a solid competitive edge."

Looking ahead to this year, Zeiler noted, "we cannot expect a quick recovery of advertising revenues to previous levels. While we remain cautious, we will also continue to invest in promising business opportunities, based on our strong brands and content. These include on-demand services as non-linear TV viewing grows rapidly, digital pay channels to establish a second revenue stream, content production, and our broad range of diversification businesses.”

At Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, revenues fell 14.3 percent to 1.7 billion euros. Group M6 revenues were up 1.7 percent to 1.4 billion euros. Revenues were stable at FremantleMedia at 1.2 bilion euros, accounting for almost 22 percent of RTL’s revenues. RTL Nederland saw its revenues drop 14.9 percent to 371 million euros. And Five’s revenues took a 30-percent hit to 303 million euros.