RTL Group Profit Up

LUXEMBOURG: RTL Group saw its net profit increase 52.6 percent to 418 million euros ($558 million), though revenue was down amid a weak TV ad market.

Revenue dipped 1.3 percent to 2.78 billion euros ($3.71 million). The TV advertising market continued to pose a challenge in the first half of 2013. The Germany net ad TV market was the only one estimated to be stable year-on-year, while all of RTL Group’s other core markets declined.

RTL Group’s EBITA increased by 9.1 percent to 552 million euros ($737 million), marking the second highest first-half EBITA in the group’s history. For RTL in Germany, EBITA was up 9.3 percent to 306 million euros ($409 million). EBITA of France’s M6 saw a slight increase to 127 million euros ($170 million). RTL Nederland’s EBITA was stable at 38 million euros ($50.7 million), even though there was an estimated 5.6-percent decline in the Dutch TV ad market. RTL Belgium and the RTL radio family in France generated stable profit contribution.

FremantleMedia, meanwhile, reported EBITA of 47 million euros ($63 million). This was up slightly from the 40 million euros ($53 million) reported last year. The gains were led by increased contributions from FremantleMedia North America and FremantleMedia Asia Pacific, as well as the benefits of previous restructuring costs.

Digital continues to be a strength for the group. RTL Group’s video services and websites attracted a total of 4.8 billion online video views, up 35 percent year-on-year. Online advertising was up 39 percent in Germany, 24 percent in France and 34 percent in the Netherlands.

Anke Schaferkordt and Guillaume de Posch, co-CEOs of RTL Group, said: “Our strong interim results again demonstrate the resilience of our diversified portfolio and business model. Despite a tough economic environment, all profit indicators—EBITA, profit margin and net result—were significantly up and we generated the second best first-half EBITA in the company’s history.

RTL Group also continues to deliver strong cash flows, which is enabling both continued investment in future growth and attractive cash returns for shareholders. This is demonstrated by the significant progress we have made this year across our three strategic pillars ‘broadcast—content—digital,’ and we have combined this with an extraordinary interim dividend of 2.50 euros per share.

Our broadcast and content brands remain strong. With our recent transactions—the strategic partnership with Broadband TV and the acquisition of the leading pay video-on-demand operator in the Netherlands—we have given a particular boost to our presence and expertise in the digital distribution space. After these investments, RTL Group will attract more than 15 billion online video views for the year 2013. We are clearly on track to reach our goal of being a leading player in online video and online video advertising.

Looking at the financial performance for the year-end, visibility on the important fourth quarter remains limited. Assuming no unexpected deterioration of markets and with the strong results in the first six months of 2013, we are increasingly confident that we will achieve a similar level of EBITA for the full year as in 2012.”