Axel Springer increases revenues in the first half of the year

 The German media group Axel Springer published its half-year financial report on Wednesday. According to the report, the company increased its sales in the first half of 2007 by 3.1 percent to 1208.5 million euros (compared to 1172.7 million in the previous year). This growth was primarily driven by the Group's international activities. International sales increased by 25.9 percent to EUR 233.9 million (previous year: EUR 185.8 million) and reached a new high with a 19.4 percent share of consolidated sales. As CEO Mathias Döpfner explained, Springer has thus made very good progress on its way to becoming one of Europe's leading multimedia-integrated print, online and TV companies. "We have driven forward the digitization of our business with carefully prepared acquisitions and considerable investments in existing activities," he emphasized. Pro-forma revenues from existing and acquired online businesses even increased by 50 percent to around 102 million euros.
According to the press release, the Zurich-based Jean Frey Verlag, publisher of Bilanz and Beobachter, which Springer took over last year, also contributed to the growth in sales.