RTL Group: Defying the slump in several advertising markets
Despite weak advertising markets in Germany and Southern Europe, RTL Group posted slightly higher revenue and significantly higher profits in the first half of the year. However, following a particularly strong 2010, revenue rose by only 3.4 percent to around 2.75 billion euros.
Profits at Europe's largest television group jumped 24 percent to 382 million euros, partly because the loss-making subsidiary Five has now been sold. The general conditions in Europe were very different, RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler reported on Wednesday. In France, Belgium and Holland, the advertising markets grew, while in Southern and Eastern Europe they shrank. In Germany, the overall market stagnated.
The production company Fremantle Media (Deutschland sucht den Superstar) recently had more sales but less profit due to industry pressure on production costs. Zeiler nevertheless expressed confidence that this would be offset in the year as a whole. The Greek station Alpha continues to be the Group's problem child.
Although job cuts and a program reform have reduced costs, the advertising market is still in the red. Despite a significant increase in viewers, the slump in the advertising market in the country, which has been hit by the debt crisis and a radical austerity program, has left the company in the red. The goodwill of the loss-maker was completely written off last year. (sda)
