Tamedia increases turnover - participation in Moneypark
In the first half of the year, Tamedia increased its revenue by 2.7 percent to 551.4 million Swiss francs, primarily as a result of acquisitions. The media group is also acquiring a 20.4 percent stake in Moneypark, an internet company founded in 2011.
The continued decline in income from the sale of advertisements in print media was offset by the acquisition of the Winterthurer Landbote. The digital business area, i.e. internet platforms such as Homegate and Jobcloud or the ticket sales company Starticket, also brought in more money. However, the 20 Minuten news platform also contributed to the 11.6 percent growth in the digital business, whereas Newsnet suffered slight losses.
Tamedia was able to increase its profits more than its sales. The Group's operating profit (EBIT) rose by 14.8 percent to CHF 73.2 million and net profit by 8.2 percent to CHF 59.2 million, as detailed in a press release issued on Friday.
In addition to the acquisition of Landbote, Tamedia cites measures to increase efficiency in the paid daily newspapers as well as at 20 Minuten and the magazines as reasons for the improved profitability. Investments in the digital sector also contributed to the improvement in results.
Participation in financial advisory platform Moneypark
Tamedia is acquiring a stake in the financial advice platform Moneypark. According to an announcement on Friday, it is buying 20.4 percent of the internet company, which was founded in 2011 and now has around 60 employees. How much Tamedia is paying for the stake and how much turnover and profit Moneypark is currently generating were not disclosed. The company founders Stefan Heitmann and Leo Grünstein remain the majority shareholders of Moneypark.
With this investment, the Tamedia Group is further expanding its business with sales, brokerage and consulting platforms on the Internet. The media company already owns, among others, the offer platform Olmero, the ticket distributor Starticket, the real estate platform Homegate and the search engine Search.ch. Tamedia also holds stakes in the Internet television provider Zattoo, the appointment scheduler Doodle, the classifieds platform Tutti.ch, the job portal Jobs.ch and other companies. Meanwhile, 23 percent of the Tamedia Group's turnover comes from activities in the digital world.
Moneypark specializes in comparing and brokering financial products such as mortgages or 3rd pillar accounts and also offers advice on financial investments. The company does not offer any financial products of its own, but is nevertheless subject to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) as a broker of financial products.
Moneypark operates a website, but also has branches in Zurich, Basel and Lucerne. (SDA)
Merger of Search.ch and Local.ch brings Tamedia high profits
