2625 August 20092010 week 34 Interim results 2010 Withh EUR 537 million,milli RTL Group delivers best half-year result ever e plu s all th major news from the last four weeks Germany The Netherlands Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland RTL Nederland presents plans central platform for TV new season programming content North America Spain A young girl enchants Grupo Antena 3 launches America’s Got Talent third digital channel week 34 the RTL Group intranet 2625 August 20092010 week 34 Interim results 2010 Cover: Withh EUR 537 million,milli RTL Group delivers best half-year result ever Montage for the Interim Results 2010 e plu s all th major news from the last four weeks Germany The Netherlands Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland RTL Nederland presents 2 plans central platform for TV new season programming content North America Spain A young girl enchants Grupo Antena 3 launches America’s Got Talent third digital channel week 34 the RTL Group intranet RTL Group delivers best half-year result ever On 25 August, RTL Group announced its interim results to 30 June 2010. Backstage asked RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler about the current status of the company. Gerhard Zeiler Luxembourg - 25 August 2010 With growing advertising revenue, many TV In Germany, total revenue increased 5 per cent companies reported significantly improved with EBITA rising to EUR 257 million reflecting financial results in recent weeks. How did the significantly higher advertising sales and the RTL Group perform in the first half of 2010? comprehensive cost saving measures initiated The advertising markets in the first half of 2010 last year. All of Groupe M6’s operating activities showed a strong recovery in Western Europe reported revenue and EBITA growth resulting in – much stronger than expected at the begin- an overall EBITA improvement of 20.7 per cent ning of the year. This is the result of the overall to EUR 134 million. And in the Netherlands, the economic recovery, but it also demonstrates total EBITA of the profit centre doubled to EUR the strength of television, as many advertisers 32 million Euros compared to last year, based have re-discovered its unique value for building on higher revenue generated by the TV activities brands and reaching mass audiences. and stable costs. For the first half of 2010, RTL Group reports a You already mentioned the significant cost strong set of results with significant growth in reductions realised in 2009. Is this still on the revenue and its best half-year EBITA and profit agenda? margin ever. This is also a benefit from our sig- Following significant savings in 2009, we’ve con- nificant cost reductions in 2009. tinued to apply strict cost control in 2010. If you look at our half-year figures, you can see that The Group’s EBITA margin increased 5.4 per- the Group’s operating costs remained broadly centage points to 20.2 per cent, and the net stable. Overall, we plan more or less with the result for RTL Group shareholders rose to EUR same cost base as in 2009. 257 million. However, we are and we will remain flexible: we Also from an audience ratings perspective can further cut costs or invest more on short no- almost all of our profit centres had an excellent tice − depending what the overall economic situ- first half year despite the fact that significant ation or the competition requires. This is done in sporting events such as the football World Cup close co-ordination with our local management and the Olympic Winter Games were broadcast teams in the various countries. on competing channels. What are RTL Group’s strategic priorities? Where did the EBITA improvement come RTL Group’s strategy will continue to pursue two from? main goals. First, to further optimise our core All our units improved their operating results with broadcasting business. This includes a variety especially strong performances coming from of measures such as strengthening our family Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, Groupe M6 of channels and a cautious but flexible cost ap- and RTL Nederland. proach. 3 week 34 the RTL Group intranet The second main goal is to develop future growth However, you wouldn’t expect us to put a number by investing in content production, on-demand on our full-year result for 2010 – because this platforms and mobile services, leveraging our will solely depend on the development in the strong brands and creating a win-win-situation fourth quarter for which we have basically no with platform operators. We will also continue to visibility. This has to do with the strong fourth consider geographical expansion in high-growth quarter of last year when the lack of advertising regions. The digital world offers many business bookings in the first three quarters where partly opportunities, and we have the creativity, flex- compensated during the last three months. The ibility and financial strength to take advantage of only positive indicator we have so far is that TV them. advertising market growth in the UK will also continue in October. Finally, what is your outlook for the full year 2010? To sum it up: Our programme schedules for the We are confident that the positive trend – in next season are clear, our audience and adver- terms of EBITA improvement year-on-year – will tising performance is strong, costs are under also continue in the third quarter of 2010. Based control. The fourth quarter will decide whether on this and on our strong performance in key 2010 will be a good or a great year. markets, we will significantly outperform last year’s result. Best first half-year EBITA and profit margin ever Reported Group revenue up 7.5 per cent to EUR 2,661 million reflecting strong growth in Western European TV advertising markets in first half of 2010 First-half EBITA of EUR 537 million (up 46.3 per cent), mainly driven by significantly higher profit contributions from Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, Groupe M6 and RTL Nederland Reported EBITA margin of 20.2 per cent (2009: 14.8 per cent) Net profit attributable to RTL Group shareholders comes to EUR 257 million (2009: net loss of EUR 105 million) Net cash from operating activities of EUR 523 million (2009: EUR 237 million), resulting in operating cash conversion of 118 per cent and net cash position at the end of June of EUR 894 million Following significant cost savings in 2009, operating costs remained broadly stable at EUR 2,168 million (2009: EUR 2,142 million) All profit centres improved their results Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland increased its clear audience leadership over main competitor ProSiebenSat1 to 5.2 percentage points and outperformed a significantly growing TV advertis- ing market; EBITA up 62.7 per cent to EUR 257 million Groupe M6 in France showed strong revenue and EBITA growth across all its activities; EBITA up 20.7 per cent to EUR 134 million Despite general pressure on margins and volumes, RTL Group’s worldwide production arm FremantleMedia continued its strong performance, thanks to its well-balanced stable of hit entertainment shows; EBITA up 3.4 per cent to EUR 90 million RTL Nederland doubled EBITA year on year to EUR 32 million RTL Radio in France reporting EBITA growth of 87.5 per cent, reaching EUR 15 million 4 week 34 the RTL Group intranet A disciplined approach to portfolio management, Five sold In July, RTL Group sold its UK broadcaster Five to the Northern & Shell company owned by British publisher Richard Desmond. The total cash consideration payable to RTL Group for its 100 per cent shareholding in Five was EUR 124 million. In March, FremantleMedia acquired the remaining 25 per cent of the production company Blu, the market leader in Denmark and Sweden, taking FremantleMedia’s ownership to 100 per cent; in April, FremantleMedia took over 100 per cent of the Netherlands-based independent produc- tion company Four One Media In January, RTL Nederland acquired Radio 10 Gold, expanding its family of radio stations, which also comprises market leader Radio 538 and digital station RTL Lounge Radio RTL Group’s new media activities show strong growth RTL Group’s online platforms and on-demand offers across Europe collectively generated more than 715 million video views of professionally produced content – up 50 per cent year-on-year Total online advertising revenue up 55 per cent year-on-year, driven by video advertising RTL Group companies have launched 40 mobile applications registering 5.5 million downloads to date; RTL Television became the first German channel to offer a mobile live stream app for its linear TV schedule Pay-TV channels in Germany, France and the Netherlands are operating at a profit For more information see: RTLGroup.com 5 week 34 the RTL Group intranet Revenue, EBITA, operating margin: all indicators significantly up End of July, Groupe M6 published its financial results for the first half of 2010. The group’s consolidated revenues grew by 9.4 per cent to EUR 742.1 million, while consolidated EBITA came to EUR 132.5 million, a 23.3 per cent increase. France - 28 July 2010 All activities contributed to the growth: the Revenues from the digital channels (advertising group’s advertising revenues (M6 channel, and distribution) rose by 15.8 per cent, mainly digital channels, Internet) increased by 10.0 driven by W9. The free DTT channel achieved per cent, while non-advertising revenues were a 2.9 per cent average national audience share up 8.7 per cent. On top of that, all activities over the period (audiences aged 4 and above; substantially increased their contribution in terms Source: Médiamétrie) and confirmed its position of current operating profit, thereby validating the as the most-invested-in DTT channel (advertis- group’s strategy of combining growth and profit- ing expenditures) over the period (gross ad data, ability.