Affichage at a record high
At Tuesday’s earnings press conference, Affichage CEO Christian Kauter presented the best annual results in the history of Affichage Holding. Net income for 2007 had nearly doubled to 62 million Swiss francs. The company plans to continue its expansion into Southeast Europe.
"This is the best result in the history of Affichage Holding and APG," said Affichage CEO Christian Kauter with obvious pride at his company's annual press conference on Tuesday. The figures are indeed impressive: sales revenue rose by 20.4 percent to 386.4 million francs, the operating result before acquisition-related amortization even exceeded sales growth and net profit almost doubled to 62 million francs. For his part, Affichage CFO Ulrich von Bassewitz summarized the top result as "continuity in Switzerland and new beginnings abroad". In fact, Affichage succeeded last year in renewing the Winterthur and Chur city contracts and also in retaining the outdoor advertising at SBB stations and railroad lines. However, sales revenue in Switzerland only increased by 1.3 percent; in 2006, Affichage reported a 10 percent increase in this country. In contrast, sales in south-eastern Europe rose by an incredible 224.1 percent.
According to von Bassewitz, however, these figures give an inaccurate picture. This is because various sales losses in the home market were foreseeable or even deliberately calculated, such as the loss of revenue from tobacco advertising or the decision to forego marketing mandates in the sports sector. Von Bassewitz therefore interpreted the seemingly low growth in the home market as a strong increase in sales revenue overall, as the expected loss of income was more than compensated for.
The growth rate abroad, on the other hand, was primarily due to the acquisitions made, von Bassewitz noted. Last year, Affichage acquired companies primarily in Greece and Romania and also dissolved the ten-year joint venture Europlakat International (EPI) with JCDecaux in the middle of the year, enabling it to fully consolidate various activities. Purely organic growth abroad, i.e. excluding these acquisitions and sales, nevertheless amounted to a respectable 11.8 percent.
The foreign share of total sales thus increased from 8.6 percent to 23.1 percent. "This brings us very close to the target we set ourselves two years ago," said Kauter happily. Affichage had set itself the target of increasing the proportion of sales generated abroad to 25 percent by the end of 2008 - in order to reduce its heavy dependence on the increasingly regulated domestic market.
Madeleine Linter, Head of the new Affichage International division since last October, emphasized that the primary task now is to integrate the activities in the countries of South-Eastern Europe. "We have eight markets there, now we have to master them," she said. Affichage wants to achieve this not only by gaining market share, but also through the quality of its product range and transparency in its dealings with customers.
According to von Bassewitz, however, these figures give an inaccurate picture. This is because various sales losses in the home market were foreseeable or even deliberately calculated, such as the loss of revenue from tobacco advertising or the decision to forego marketing mandates in the sports sector. Von Bassewitz therefore interpreted the seemingly low growth in the home market as a strong increase in sales revenue overall, as the expected loss of income was more than compensated for.
The growth rate abroad, on the other hand, was primarily due to the acquisitions made, von Bassewitz noted. Last year, Affichage acquired companies primarily in Greece and Romania and also dissolved the ten-year joint venture Europlakat International (EPI) with JCDecaux in the middle of the year, enabling it to fully consolidate various activities. Purely organic growth abroad, i.e. excluding these acquisitions and sales, nevertheless amounted to a respectable 11.8 percent.
The foreign share of total sales thus increased from 8.6 percent to 23.1 percent. "This brings us very close to the target we set ourselves two years ago," said Kauter happily. Affichage had set itself the target of increasing the proportion of sales generated abroad to 25 percent by the end of 2008 - in order to reduce its heavy dependence on the increasingly regulated domestic market.
Madeleine Linter, Head of the new Affichage International division since last October, emphasized that the primary task now is to integrate the activities in the countries of South-Eastern Europe. "We have eight markets there, now we have to master them," she said. Affichage wants to achieve this not only by gaining market share, but also through the quality of its product range and transparency in its dealings with customers.
Markus Knöpfli / elk
