Money flow into the Goldbach

 
Marketer Goldbach Media had a strong year, went public and exited the content business. 
When Klaus Kappeler, now CEO of the Goldbach Media Group, was Managing Director of Radio Z 22 years ago, he personally delivered the radio commercial to the butcher around the corner and even sang the melody to him. Times have changed dramatically in the meantime. Today, you don't really want to hear Kappeler sing anymore when you listen to him talk about the unbroken success story of Switzerland's largest marketer of private electronic media. Since the sale of Radio Energy (formerly Radio Z) and Radio Ri to the Ringier publishing house, the company has also completely moved away from dealing with journalistic content.
"We have said goodbye to the content business," said Kappeler recently at the official annual press conference in Küsnacht on Lake Zurich. The company has thus shifted its focus entirely to its core business: Selling advertising and consulting across the entire advertising field in the area of private electronic, interactive and mobile media.
The IPO on June 15, 2007, which Chairman of the Board Bruno Widmer described on the same occasion as the most important event of the past financial year, may illustrate how Goldbach is increasingly developing into a money-making machine. Widmer also spoke of the company's above-average growth.
Goldbach generated net sales of CHF 237 million in the past financial year, an increase of 18.8 percent on the previous year. EBIT amounted to 17.8 million francs (plus 17.7%). At the same time, the company posted a 102 percent higher annual profit of 25.4 million francs. This is due to the sale of radios, which alone brought in 12.5 million francs.
The company's growth should be seen against the background of the fact that the advertising markets are increasingly shifting to digital, interactive and mobile media.
Expansion of international businessThe company has responded to this with a series of measures and further expanded its international business with the acquisition of the internet marketing company Adlink Switzerland and Austria as well as Suchtreffer AG in Germany. Goldbach also founded Game Mediarep AG, a company for advertising in games, and through this subsidiary acquired a 25 percent stake in Jogo Media Inc. in the USA, a global company that has made a name for itself with its own technology solution for advertising in games.
Goldbach achieved market shares online with online advertising, search marketing, mobile marketing and advertising in games, as well as offline with the marketing of TV, teletext, radio and adscreens. The online segment developed disproportionately strongly, with an increase of over 57.5% to a total of CHF 53.9 million (CHF 34.2 million in the previous year). The online share of total sales amounted to 22.7 percent. Kappeler is forecasting Group sales of over 30 percent for 2010 from online business alone.
A more modest but still remarkable 10.6% higher turnover of CHF 184 million (CHF 166.3 million in the previous year) was also achieved in the offline segment. TV accounted for the largest share of this at 58%. In addition to the general market trend in Switzerland, Kappeler attributed the growth in TV marketing to new offerings on the market such as IPTV Zattoo Switzerland and the marketing of the successful French channel M6 in the Lake Geneva region. "With M6, we have twice the reach in French-speaking Switzerland," said Kappeler.
Radio accounts for 17% of offline sales and grew by 5.9% compared to the previous year. "Radio has stabilized," says Kappeler. On the one hand, national placement is increasing and, on the other, the introduction of Coop in-store radio in over 900 sales outlets of the major distributor is also having an impact. At two percent, Adscreen's share of offline sales is small. Adscreen also fell by 5.1 percent in the financial year, which Kappeler attributed to a weak open-air summer. Nevertheless, the company has expanded its portfolio with adscreens in sports stadiums.
Goldbach is also in the starting blocks to conquer the Eastern market. Kappeler did not want to reveal exactly which countries the company is focusing on. He spoke of ten countries that the company initially wants to enter online in order to gradually build up the same well-rounded offering that Goldbach also offers its customers in Switzerland. He also left open the nature of the links with Ringier Verlag, which is successful in the East. At least Goldbach has set a strategic sign for its eastward expansion with the involvement of Thomas Landolt, formerly with Ringier in Hungary and Romania.
Due to the good business performance, the company intends to pay its shareholders a dividend of CHF 0.33 per share and, due to the sale of Radios Z and Ri, an extraordinary dividend of CHF 1 per share.
René Worni