Self-direction rubs off on the balance sheet
Since the beginning of the year, Basler Zeitung Medien has been handling its own marketing. This had an impact on the 2007/08 fiscal year.
Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM), which closes its financial year in mid-year, sold its early delivery company Prevag to Swiss Post in June. As a result, the Prevag revenue generated (previously a good 11 million Swiss francs per year) is no longer included in BZM's annual financial statements, but the proceeds from the sale are. It is therefore mainly thanks to this sale that BZM Group sales increased slightly by 0.6 percent to 281.6 million Swiss francs in the 2007/08 financial year. Net profit, on the other hand, fell by 13.6 percent to 7 million Swiss francs due to increased investment requirements: BZM invested a total of 7.8 million Swiss francs in printing, hardware and software, 30 percent more than in the previous year. This figure does not yet include further investments of an undisclosed amount for the free newspaper News, launched in December 2007, and for the online portal Newsnetz, launched in August 2008. BZM launched both projects together with Tamedia.
Of the business units for which BZM reports figures, only the two Birkhäuser printing operations (commercial and special printing) reported higher sales. In contrast, the parent company with Basler Zeitung and newspaper printing as well as the free newspaper Baslerstab each recorded a significant decline in sales. The situation is particularly serious at Baslerstab, which has lost around a quarter of its revenues since 2004/05. Was the self-management that BZM introduced in 2008 underestimated? BZM CEO Beat Meyer waves it off. The Baslerstab is indeed under budget, but that has nothing to do with self-management. "The Baslerstab, which appears five times a week, is in particularly strong competition with 20 Minuten, News and .ch, and the new online portal also has a cannibalizing effect," says Meyer. Furthermore, the two-year P regime "has not been particularly efficient." Numerous contacts to local customers were lost, which now have to be rebuilt, says Meyer. In order to get the sales problems under control, various measures are currently being examined at Baslerstab. The paper, which has a strong tendency toward the boulevard, was only given a new concept in the spring.
The situation is somewhat different at the parent company: According to Meyer, BaZ's advertising revenues in the first half of 2008, i.e., since the start of in-house management, were higher than in the same period of the previous year and under P-management. However, in order to be able to start under its own management in 2008, the company had already spent months building up its own crew in parallel to the P-management, which is why double costs were incurred during this time. "At that time, our people had already started working the market, but we still had to commission the P in accordance with the contract for advertisements that they brought in before the turn of the year," explains Meyer. This led to a drop in sales. Another reason: In newspaper printing, a customer reduced an important print job.
No data on the advertising companies
BZM does not publish any figures on Radio Basel 1 or on its four advertising companies. In addition to the existing subsidiaries Key Media and BZM Werbe AG, the Group founded two new companies at once last fiscal year, BZM Online AG and All Media AG, whose purposes seem to overlap to some extent. BZM Online, which was originally intended for advertising acquisition in the online sector, has ceded the task to BZM Werbe AG, says Meyer. It is now only responsible for the further development of BZM Online activities, and is particularly concerned with the local anchoring of Bazonline.ch in villages and neighborhoods. Meyer remains vague about All Media AG, the largest of the four companies in terms of share capital. This company is not active and may not be active in the future, he says; it was founded as a precautionary measure, also to protect the name All Media. But why? According to the commercial register, there are already about a dozen other companies in Switzerland with "Allmedia" or "All Media" in their names.
Markus Knöpfli
Tense relationship
The financial differences that had led to disagreements between BZM and PubliGroupe at the beginning of the year have largely been resolved, according to Meyer. BZM had accused the advertising giant, which holds 37.5 percent of BZM shares, of withholding CHF 2.5 million. "This amount has almost been paid, and it no longer plays a role in the current BZM balance sheet," Meyer says. Nevertheless, the relationship has come to a head. Recently, he says, people only talk to each other through their lawyers, even on the BZM board of directors, where P has a seat. Meyer does not want to say anything about the reasons. (mk)
Of the business units for which BZM reports figures, only the two Birkhäuser printing operations (commercial and special printing) reported higher sales. In contrast, the parent company with Basler Zeitung and newspaper printing as well as the free newspaper Baslerstab each recorded a significant decline in sales. The situation is particularly serious at Baslerstab, which has lost around a quarter of its revenues since 2004/05. Was the self-management that BZM introduced in 2008 underestimated? BZM CEO Beat Meyer waves it off. The Baslerstab is indeed under budget, but that has nothing to do with self-management. "The Baslerstab, which appears five times a week, is in particularly strong competition with 20 Minuten, News and .ch, and the new online portal also has a cannibalizing effect," says Meyer. Furthermore, the two-year P regime "has not been particularly efficient." Numerous contacts to local customers were lost, which now have to be rebuilt, says Meyer. In order to get the sales problems under control, various measures are currently being examined at Baslerstab. The paper, which has a strong tendency toward the boulevard, was only given a new concept in the spring.
The situation is somewhat different at the parent company: According to Meyer, BaZ's advertising revenues in the first half of 2008, i.e., since the start of in-house management, were higher than in the same period of the previous year and under P-management. However, in order to be able to start under its own management in 2008, the company had already spent months building up its own crew in parallel to the P-management, which is why double costs were incurred during this time. "At that time, our people had already started working the market, but we still had to commission the P in accordance with the contract for advertisements that they brought in before the turn of the year," explains Meyer. This led to a drop in sales. Another reason: In newspaper printing, a customer reduced an important print job.
No data on the advertising companies
BZM does not publish any figures on Radio Basel 1 or on its four advertising companies. In addition to the existing subsidiaries Key Media and BZM Werbe AG, the Group founded two new companies at once last fiscal year, BZM Online AG and All Media AG, whose purposes seem to overlap to some extent. BZM Online, which was originally intended for advertising acquisition in the online sector, has ceded the task to BZM Werbe AG, says Meyer. It is now only responsible for the further development of BZM Online activities, and is particularly concerned with the local anchoring of Bazonline.ch in villages and neighborhoods. Meyer remains vague about All Media AG, the largest of the four companies in terms of share capital. This company is not active and may not be active in the future, he says; it was founded as a precautionary measure, also to protect the name All Media. But why? According to the commercial register, there are already about a dozen other companies in Switzerland with "Allmedia" or "All Media" in their names.
Markus Knöpfli
Tense relationship
The financial differences that had led to disagreements between BZM and PubliGroupe at the beginning of the year have largely been resolved, according to Meyer. BZM had accused the advertising giant, which holds 37.5 percent of BZM shares, of withholding CHF 2.5 million. "This amount has almost been paid, and it no longer plays a role in the current BZM balance sheet," Meyer says. Nevertheless, the relationship has come to a head. Recently, he says, people only talk to each other through their lawyers, even on the BZM board of directors, where P has a seat. Meyer does not want to say anything about the reasons. (mk)
