RTL Group Reports Record Results for 2015

LUXEMBOURG: Net profit for 2015 was up 21 percent to 789 million euros ($865 million) at RTL Group, which posted revenues of 6.03 billion euros ($6.61 billion), up 3.8 percent.

The lift in revenue was mainly driven by increasing revenue at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, growing digital revenue and favorable exchange-rate effects. The group’s revenue is “well diversified,” the company said, with 53.7 percent from broadcast advertising (TV and radio), 22 percent from content, 8.4 percent from digital activities, 4.1 percent from platform revenue and 11.8 percent other revenue. RTL Group’s digital revenue continued to show strong growth, up 72.2 percent to 508 million euros ($557 million); performance benefited from organic growth and new acquisitions.

Within Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, EBITA grew by 5.2 percent to 684 million euros ($750 million), mainly led by higher TV advertising and revenue from diversification activities.

Despite a strong performance in TV, Groupe M6’s EBITA decreased to 205 million euros ($229 million), with lower contribution from diversification activities (home-shopping operations, the football club Girondins de Bordeaux and others).

EBITA of FremantleMedia decreased to 103 million euros ($113 million) from 2014’s 113 million euros ($124 million), reflecting the reduction in American Idol, which is in its 15th and final season, and increased investment in the creative pipeline.

RTL Nederland’s EBITA was down 1.9 percent to 101 million euros ($111 million), reflecting start-up losses in VOD, and the termination of the Sizz partnership with Vodafone in 2014.

At RTL Hungary, EBITA was up to 21 million euros ($23 million), driven by one-off effects such as the partial reversal of a stock valuation allowance and the reclaiming of the advertising tax paid in 2014.

Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch, co-CEOs of RTL Group, said: “Despite a mixed picture in the global economy, 2015 was a record year for RTL Group: for the first time in the history of our group, revenue exceeded 6 billion euros, with EBITA also reaching a new all-time high. Our biggest profit center, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, grew significantly and generated another record profit—for the fourth consecutive year.

With our digital investments in North America—BroadbandTV, StyleHaul and SpotX—we’ve reached critical mass in online video within a very short period of time. This is also reflected in our strong set of financial results: with more than half a billion euros in revenue, digital has become a highly dynamic third pillar for RTL Group, in addition to our market-leading broadcasting and content production businesses.

The strong cash flows generated by our families of channels allow us to combine attractive dividend payments with further acquisitions to pursue our two main investments goals. The first is to further expand and develop our digital businesses where global scale in content aggregation and advertising technology becomes ever more important. The second goal is to further grow content production, because we’re certain that producing our own content and owning the rights to it will be one of the keys for further growth.

As part of this strategy, FremantleMedia is making sound progress to increase its creative diversity. As FremantleMedia is already one of the biggest independent production companies, their focus is on partnering with creative talent to develop new projects for FremantleMedia’s unrivaled international network. This trend will continue and see scripted entertainment taking a larger share of FremantleMedia’s total revenue.”