Print crisis depresses Axel Springer profits
The Axel Springer media group reported a decline in profits and revenue in the third quarter due to a decline in its print business. However, the company confirmed its full-year business forecast on Wednesday.
In the third quarter, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization Ebitda fell by 4.4 percent to 150.6 million euros. This was announced by the publishing house. Sales of the Bild and Welt publisher declined by 0.7 percent to around 787 million euros.
In Switzerland, Axel Springer is the publisher of the Handelszeitung, the Beobachter and the TV program guide Tele, among others. Compared to the prior-year quarter, German newspapers lost 7.1 percent in revenues, German magazines 9.8 percent and international print media 11.2 percent. By contrast, digital media sales rose by 15.9 percent to 281 million euros.
However, due to the good first half of the year, total sales for the months January to September were 3.9 percent higher than in the same period of the previous year at 2.41 billion euros. Progressive digitization is shaping business development, it said. For the full year, the company expects a single-digit percentage increase in Group revenues and slightly higher Ebitda than in the previous year. (SDA)
