Edipresse generates net profit of CHF 9.2 million

The Lausanne-based publishing group Edipresse has
achieved organic sales growth of 6 % in the first half of 2005. The
increase is mainly due to the introduction of new titles, such as
the Vaud-based company announced on Thursday. During the
Sales in Switzerland fell by 0.4 %, while abroad they rose by 14.3
%. Advertising revenue rose by 8.1 %, sales revenue increased by
by 6.7 %. Income from the printing business, on the other hand, fell by
6.2 %. Among other things, this is due to the sale of some small
printing plants in Switzerland. The operating result before
Interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell due to investments in
New launches CHF 13 million to CHF 35.8 million. The net profit
improved to CHF 9.2 million after CHF 7.7 million in the previous year.
Edipresse benefited from extraordinary income of 5.6 million
Swiss francs. As the economic trend in Europe is still very uncertain,
Edipresse is finding it difficult to forecast for the second half of 2005 and for 2006
forecasts. However, significantly better results are expected
than in the previous year.