Axel Springer: Digital media cushion decline in sales
The German media conglomerate was also affected by the crisis year of 2009. However, digital media offset the decline in revenue.
Springer recorded a 4.3 percent drop in sales to 2.61 billion euros for the 2009 financial year. This was reported by Nachrichten.ch on Wednesday. The net profit for the year fell by 45 percent to 331.8 million euros. However, Axel Springer announced in Berlin that the dividend will remain constant at 4.40 euros per share. The cross-media business model nevertheless paid off and developed better than the overall market in a difficult environment. Many declines in the print sector were offset by the digital business. They achieved an increase in advertising revenue of 24.1 percent compared to the previous year.
Although German newspapers were able to increase their circulation revenues by one percent in 2009, advertising revenues fell by 12.1 percent. Only the flagship Bild was able to maintain advertising revenues at the previous year's level, as Pressetext writes. The international press business, on the other hand, performed rather poorly. The Eastern European market in particular saw sales plummet. Circulation revenues fell by a whopping 14.2 percent and advertising revenues by as much as 36 percent.
According to Kress.de, Group CEO Matthias Döpfner is now emerging confidently from the crisis year. He expects sales to remain stable or increase slightly in the current year.
Although German newspapers were able to increase their circulation revenues by one percent in 2009, advertising revenues fell by 12.1 percent. Only the flagship Bild was able to maintain advertising revenues at the previous year's level, as Pressetext writes. The international press business, on the other hand, performed rather poorly. The Eastern European market in particular saw sales plummet. Circulation revenues fell by a whopping 14.2 percent and advertising revenues by as much as 36 percent.
According to Kress.de, Group CEO Matthias Döpfner is now emerging confidently from the crisis year. He expects sales to remain stable or increase slightly in the current year.
