AZ Medien increases operating result by 24 percent

AZ Medien Group can look back on a good financial year and recorded an operating profit of CHF 14.5 million, which corresponds to an increase of 24 percent. Cash flow increased by 15 percent year-on-year to a record CHF 25.9 million. Consolidated net income grew by 26 percent to CHF 8.2 million. As the AZ Medien Group announced on Wednesday, it had pursued the path of qualitative and profitable growth in an extremely difficult market environment and achieved respectable results thanks to the high motivation of its employees, targeted cost management and intensive market cultivation. The operating result was mainly due to the increase in operating income with relatively lower personnel expenses. All areas of the Group contributed to this pleasing development, with Magazines, Meissner Books and Newspaper Printing making a particularly positive contribution. Newspapers accounted for the largest share of operating income at 57 percent, followed by Magazines, Books and Book Retailing at 23 percent and Printing and Distribution at 19 percent. For the first time, investments in the electronic media Radio Argovia, Tele M1 and Tele Tell also made a substantial contribution to the Group result. The losses of the regional television stations were further reduced. The flagship Aargauer Zeitung was able to slightly increase its circulation and readership. In the advertising market, however, the target line was not quite reached. The AZ Medien Group does not expect any major changes for the current year either, as the advertising market was very subdued in the first few months of 2006. The AZ Medien Group therefore intends to occupy as strong a position as possible in the cross-media business, as a new, interesting market segment is growing up for cross-media products and services.
In the 2005 financial year, the AZ Medien Group took important steps to strengthen its market position in the Mittelland economic region. The AZ Medien Group acquired a 17.5 percent stake in Vogt-Schild Holding from Publigroupe, and a second tranche of a further 17.5 percent has been agreed. At the same time, a joint venture in newspaper printing was founded with Vogt-Schild Holding. Furthermore, Mittelland Zeitung - the association of Aargauer Zeitung, Solothurner Zeitung, Oltner Tagblatt and Zofinger Tagblatt - was expanded to include the cooperation partner Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, which will join in September 2006 and strengthen the north-western Switzerland region. The Mittelland Zeitung is thus the third-largest subscribed daily newspaper and reaches a total circulation of 212,000 copies and around 450,000 readers.