Black zero at SRG despite falling revenues and austerity plan
Lower license fees, declining advertising revenue, and a resulting cost-cutting program shaped SRG’s fiscal year. Nevertheless, the company still managed to break even in 2018, posting a modest profit of 6.8 million Swiss francs.
The past year was dominated by the long and intense debate on the No Billag initiative, SRG announced on Thursday. Despite the clear victory in the referendum, the company announced a savings program of around CHF 100 million and - in connection with this - a reduction of 200 jobs.
The reason for the savings exercise was the upcoming reduction and capping of reception fees, declining advertising revenues and new tasks in the performance mandate, it said. In addition, SRG intended to invest 20 million francs in feature films and series as well as in the development of a digital offering.
Due to the costs of the fee system change, these revenues already fell by CHF 12.1 million last year. Added to this were 11.2 million francs for the social plan and 34.1 million francs for provisions to prepare the reform plan. A large part of the CHF 20.4 million increase in personnel costs was also due to provisions made as part of the savings program.
Advertising revenues fell by CHF 11.9 million, mainly due to the shift to digital channels and social media platforms. Finally, programming and production expenses increased by CHF 50 million last year. SRG attributes this increase to costs for broadcasting rights and production costs for major sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang or the World Cup in Russia.
The sale of a piece of land generated a book profit of CHF 63.2 million for SRG. As a result, total revenues increased to 53.3 million francs compared to the previous year, ultimately leading to a slight profit of 6.846 million francs. This is 22 million less than a year ago.
Loss forecast for 2019
However, the real impact of the fee reduction from CHF 451 last year to CHF 365 will only be felt in the current year. SRG therefore expects a negative result for 2019.
The reform plan will continue to occupy SRG. But the company will try to keep the impact on staff and programming "as low as possible," SRG writes. In any case, the goal is to be able to present a balanced result again in 2020. (SDA)
