Bertelsmann raises forecast for 2024
Book and music sales are strong: The German media conglomerate Bertelsmann expects the fiscal year to perform better than expected.
Business at RTL Group, the largest revenue generator, is running in line, with significant growth in other areas. The Gütersloh-based international media, services and education company named the book business Penguin Random House, the music division BMG, the service provider Arvato as well as the education and investment businesses.
Bertelsmann, with more than 80,000 employees worldwide, is primarily known for its media and book businesses. The portfolio includes RTL Group, including TV channels and magazines such as Star and Geo and the book publishing group Penguin Random House.
Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe said: "The growth rates in the first half of the year exceeded our expectations and we are confident that this positive development will continue in the second half of the year." He also told the German press agency DPA: "We are raising our Group forecast."
Group net profit above the billion threshold in 2023
The company did not provide exact figures or percentage growth for the year as a whole, but expects a significant increase in turnover and earnings. However, it could still result in a decline. The reason: Bertelsmann sold the Majorel call center services business and its shares to the DDV media group in Saxony.
In 2023 as a whole, turnover exceeded the 20 billion euro mark for the second time in a row and remained largely stable at the previous year's level of 20.2 billion euros. At 1.3 billion euros, Group profit was once again above the billion euro mark and increased compared to 2022, when it amounted to 1.1 billion euros.
In the first six months of 2024, Group sales fell by 7.5% year-on-year to EUR 9 billion - due to the sale of Majorel. Excluding this, organic sales growth amounted to 3.7%. The Group result rose by 60% to 416 million euros.
USA becomes biggest sales driver
The company from North Rhine-Westphalia operates internationally, and the USA has become increasingly important in recent years. "We make around 50 percent of our investments in the USA," Rabe told DPA.
These include the Fremantle production business, the book market, the music division, Arvato and the education business. "We have invested massively in the USA."
The USA has now become Bertelsmann's largest market. Rabe added: "This is a continuous development, not a snapshot." Looking to the future, he said, investments will be made in digital health in the US.
According to the company, the US share of sales in the first half of 2011 was 13.6%. In 2017, it was 20.7 percent. In the first half of this year, the figure was 28.4%. By comparison, the share of sales in Germany was 28.2%. (SDA/swi)
