Edipresse scores abroad

Annual results Edipresse, the market leader
in French-speaking Switzerland, quadruples its profits - newspaper sales are
However, the dominant market in French-speaking Switzerland
Edipresse publishing house (including Le Matin, 24 Heures, Tribune de Genève)
generated a profit of 40.3 % in the past financial year.
million francs. In the previous year, it was just 10.4 million
francs. Turnover also rose from 844.7 million to 894.4 million
francs, as did the operating result from 79.4 million to 85.7 million francs.
million francs. Last year, the company increased its
Involvement with magazines, particularly in Eastern Europe and Asia
The proportion of total sales generated by international activities
increased. The share of domestic business fell accordingly to 52.1
percent compared to 55.6 percent in2004.

However, the good financial year does not hide the fact that
competition among daily newspapers is becoming increasingly fierce. The
Newspaper sales also fell by 0.7 percent to 353.7
million francs. In the current year, the
growth of the publishing house slowed further, it was reported recently at the
Annual media conference.

Le Matin Bleu is present
The new launch proved to be successful against all expectations.
first commuter newspaper in French-speaking Switzerland, Le Matin Bleu, last
October. With a print run of 125,000 copies, the company has already
289,000 readers were reached, it said. The launch of the competitor 20
Minutes from Tamedia at the beginning of March has apparently had no impact so far
shown. Observers note that Le Matin Bleu in the
is visibly more present in French-speaking Switzerland. Also
Fears of cannibalization have largely not been confirmed, according to which
the free newspaper to a decline in advertising revenue and subscription losses
for the paid Edipresse titles, above all for the
parent newspaper Le Matin. Publishing director Tibère Adler spoke of a
minus of around 1600 copies instead of 8000 to 10000
expected. After all, Le Matin Bleu has no advertising revenue
deducted.

Edipresse, on the other hand, made massive gains in the magazine segment last year.
increased. Turnover there soared by 17.3% to 409.9 million
Swiss francs. The jump is mainly due to the commitment in Eastern Europe
where sales increased by 33 percent to 138.4 million Swiss francs.
increased. Business in Spain and Portugal was also successful,
while in Switzerland there was a slight decline in the magazine
decline of 0.8 percent. For the first time, the publishing house was also
Asia and generated sales of CHF 11.2 million.

Espace also with solid quota

The Bern-based publishing house Espace Media Groupe, which among other things publishes
of the Berner Zeitung and the Bund, has achieved a
Operating income of CHF 261.9 million (previous year CHF 260.9 million)
achieved. Despite the new printing center, the operating result
(EBITDA) of CHF 32.5 million was only slightly below the previous year's level
(34.7 million). Despite investments of
37.8 million francs increased by 7.8 percent to 60.4 percent, a
"solid quota", according to the publishing house.

René Worni