Bertelsmann increases profit thanks to RTL and services business
The German media conglomerate Bertelsmann posted record profits thanks to strong performance by its television subsidiary RTL, as well as in music rights trading and technology and logistics services.
The operating result climbed by 3.3% to 2.6 billion euros last year, as the company announced on Tuesday. Net profit increased by 2.6 percent to just over 1.1 billion euros. RTL Group contributed the largest share of the profit with 720 million euros. Group revenues, on the other hand, shrank by 1.1 percent to just under 17 billion euros, partly due to a decline in revenues at book publisher Penguin Random House. Bertelsmann plans to invest several billion euros in its businesses by 2020. In addition to Brazil, India and China, Bertelsmann's CEO Thomas Rabe announced on Tuesday in Berlin that the company would focus its international expansion on the USA in particular.
Bertelsmann also announced that the magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr has achieved a turnaround despite further restructuring costs. Thanks to growing digital revenues, operating profit (EBITDA) rose again last year by 4.6 percent to 137 million euros after a dry spell lasting several years. The Hamburg-based publishing house (Stern, Brigitte, Geo) only recorded a decline in revenues of just under 2 percent to 1.51 billion euros after a significant slump in previous years, as Bertelsmann, the owner, also announced. The growing digital business, particularly in the core markets of Germany and France, made up for revenue losses from sales of the publishing subsidiaries in Austria and Spain. (SDA)
Photo: Bertelsmann
