Allmedia still performing poorly

 
PubliGroupe II P improved in all areas, primarily abroad and in the marketing of electronic media. 
PubliGroupe increased its sales by 3.6 percent to CHF 2.16 billion in 2007. The advertising group increased its net profit by more than a third to CHF 83 million. However, one-off costs of around CHF 10 million for the strategic realignment depressed the result. The 0.4 percent improvement in the operating result (EBIT) to CHF 68.9 million is primarily due to the positive development in the Swiss advertising business (PubliPresse) and gains from the sale of investments.
The "Business in development" segment showed above-average growth of 15%. The online marketing company web2com (+9.4 percent) and Namics, which offers e-business consulting services (+37.6 percent), performed particularly well. Thanks to Cinecom and Radiotele, sales with electronic media increased significantly, namely by 44.8% in the TV sector and 58% in the radio sector. However, the weak development of cinema advertising in the 4th quarter and problems at Cinecom dragged the "Business under development" division into the red with a loss of CHF 8.3 million. This had a negative impact on the result for the entire Group.
The online marketing company Zanox, which PubliGroupe took over with the German Axel Springer in 2007 and which grew by 55 percent in 2007, performed well above expectations.
Zanox and other companies acquired in 2007 only had a minor impact on the results, but will make a substantial contribution to earnings in the current year. PubliGroupe is therefore expecting double-digit growth in 2008 without any further acquisitions. International business is accounting for an increasingly large proportion of sales. Last year alone, international business grew by 12.7 percent. PubliGroupe is expecting strong double-digit growth again this year, not least thanks to last year's acquisitions in Asia and the Olympic Games in Beijing. However, the discussion about a (partial) boycott of the Olympic Games is likely to dampen these hopes. China could become more isolated again.
In addition to the regular annual accounts, PubliGroupe also presented a pro forma statement in accordance with the new structure. They show that although the new Media Sales division (all-media marketing) will be by far the main source of sales for the reorganized PubliGroupe (91 percent share), it did not operate very profitably, at least in the last year (EBIT share 20 percent). PubliDirect and the future Search & Find (S&F) division are performing much better, albeit with a - comparatively - high headcount. PubliGroupe expects the share of Media Sales to fall to 76 percent in five years and that of S&F to be maintained, with sales increasing overall. However, the EBIT shares of both areas should reach just under 40 percent.
Markus Knöpfli