Springer loses revenue and profit - Group restructuring costs money
Weaker results in the key Internet business and costs associated with the group's restructuring are weighing on Axel Springer's revenue and profit. From January through September, revenue fell by 2.7 percent to about 2.3 billion euros.
This was announced by the editor of Image and World announced on Wednesday. Adjusted operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by almost 19 percent to 440 million euros. Springer continued to invest "despite the weaker-than-expected revenue development" and the economic slowdown, and also invested money in acquisitions.
Group CEO Mathias Döpfner reiterated that the Berlin-based company wants to become the global market leader in digital journalism and in the business with job and real estate portals ("digital classifieds"). "To achieve this, we will focus on accelerating our growth and investment strategy with KKR as a partner after the takeover bid has been completed."
The U.S. financial investor is joining Springer with around 2.9 billion euros and is to help finance acquisitions. The media company is also facing restructuring and job cuts - not yet precisely quantified. Provisions for this put pressure on the balance sheet.
Springer confirmed its forecasts for the full year, although management had already lowered them twice in 2019. Accordingly, the Group is targeting a revenue decline in the low to mid single-digit percentage range. The operating result (adjusted EBITDA) will fall by between 10 and 20 percent. (SDA)
