TX Group earns significantly less in the first half of 2022
In the first half of 2022, TX Group reported slightly lower revenue and significantly lower earnings amid a challenging environment. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, as well as the sharp rise in paper prices, weighed on the company’s performance.
The reported sales of the company, which is primarily responsible for its media brands such as Tages-Anzeiger or 20 minutes known TX Group decreased by 1.7 percent to CHF 445.7 million in the first six months. However, it should be noted that the sales of the weighty digital marketplaces Homegate, Ricardo, Tutti.ch and Car For You, all of which were brought into the Swiss Marketplace Group (SMG), are no longer included. In the previous year, these marketplaces together generated revenues of around 55 million.
Organically, there was a 12 percent increase in sales, as the TX Group wrote in a statement on Tuesday. This was due in particular to the very good performance of the job platform JobCloud, the new business of Goldbach in outdoor advertising and the passing on of higher paper prices in the printing business at Tamedia.
The TX Group suffered a significant decline in profitability in the first half of the year. EBIT decreased by 76.2 percent to 3.7 million. And the operating profit before effects of business combinations, which TX management has been focusing on, also fell significantly by 40.4 percent to 28.7 million Swiss francs. The corresponding margin thus decreased to 6.4 percent, compared to 10.6 percent in the same period of the previous year. The TX Group justifies the decrease with the high paper prices, investments in marketing in outdoor advertising as well as high write-offs due to the newly founded Swiss Marketplace Group. In addition, the "Corona emergency aid" of 3.1 million received in 2021 was repaid to the Swiss government.
The bottom line was a small profit of 1.0 million, compared with 21.2 million in the previous year. However, last year's figure still included a one-time positive special effect of 13.3 million Swiss francs from a legal dispute won in Denmark.
Job platforms grow strongly, Tamedia suffers
The job placement platforms JobCloud and Karriere.at within the TX Markets unit performed very well in the first six months. They benefited from the high demand for employees and specialists prevailing in both Switzerland and Austria.
By contrast, the traditional publishing core business with paid media products (Tamedia) did less well. Here, the economic effects of the Corona crisis and the war in Ukraine weighed on business. While sales increased slightly, thanks in particular to higher paper prices passed on to third parties, profitability declined significantly.
And commuter media (20 Minuten) also continued to feel the effects of the Corona crisis in both the advertising and user markets. Here, too, the Ukraine war had an additional negative impact. Sales thus remained virtually unchanged from the previous year.
Advertising Marketing (Goldbach) also experienced headwinds. Profitability declined sharply, while sales increased thanks to the newly marketed outdoor advertising spaces.
No concrete outlook
As usual, TX Group does not provide a concrete outlook for the full year. "Especially in these difficult times, we are devoting our attention to the transformation in journalism and advertising," Pietro Supino, President and Publisher of TX Group, is quoted as saying in the release. (SDA)
