TX Group back in the black

In the first six months, sales of the broadly diversified media company increased by 5.1 percent to CHF 453.3 million, TX Group announced on Tuesday. Operationally, the publisher of Tages-Anzeiger and 20 minutes 15.4 million Swiss francs at EBIT level.

In the previous year, there had been a high operating loss of 107.5 million. In addition to the advertising slump caused by Corona, the result at that time was also burdened by a high goodwill write-off at Paid Newspapers.

The bottom line left 21.2 million Swiss francs net profit after a minus of 109.4 million. As previously announced, the result includes as an extraordinary item in financial income a payment of 13.25 million US dollars from a legal dispute in connection with the Danish second-hand fashion platform Trendsales, in which TX held a stake until October 2020.

Despite the marked recovery, TX Group cannot yet match the pre-Corona period. In 2019, the publishing house still had half-year sales of 524 million and an operating profit of 41 million.

Commuter media with strongest growth

The most significant year-on-year growth was recorded by 20 Minuten with its commuter newspapers. Following a drop in sales of over 40 percent in the same period of the previous year, growth of 28.1 percent was achieved. However, the division's operating EBIT remained in the red at -1.4 million. While the online business performed well, the printed commuter media suffered from the home office obligation, the Group wrote.

The challenges for paid media products also remain great. Thanks to the economic recovery and the low basis for comparison, the TX Group subsidiary Tamedia was able to just about maintain sales at 222.4 million. And before depreciation and amortization, it was also back in the black operationally.

The cost-cutting measures were particularly helpful here. Around a quarter of the savings target of 70 million euros was achieved in the first half of the year.

As usual, the highest contribution to operating profit came from the marketplaces and platforms combined in the TX Markets business unit, at 33.1 million. As TX Group wrote in a separate announcement, the well-known online marketplaces such as Homegate, Ricardo, Tutti.ch are to be merged with those of the Scout24 Group in a newly founded joint venture. The TX Group, Ringier, the insurance company Mobiliar and the growth investor General Atlantic are involved.

No concrete outlook

As usual, TX Group does not make any concrete statements on the further course of the year. He looks forward to the second half of the year with confidence, said Pietro Supino, President and Publisher of TX Group, in the statement. (SDA)