Annual Report 2017 Tamedia
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The Research Desk Journalists of Tamedia regularly publish relevant, trailblazing results of their Advancing Digitization research. Both the media usage and the consumers' behavior has radically changed with digitization. Annual Report 2017 Gaining a Foothold in Romandy With the acquisition of the Swiss business Tamedia activities of Edipresse Ltd, Tamedia also publishes newspapers such as “Le Matin”, The Publisher “24 heures” and “Tribune de Genève”. Pietro Supino explains how Tamedia is responding to disruptive trends and addressing the challenges of the digital age. Fake News The founder of the “Tages-Anzeiger” "Fake News" are not new, as the example Wilhelm Girardet, the great-great-grandfa- What Switzerland thinks of the Hitler diaries in "Stern" magazine shows. But they peaked during Trump's ther of today's leadership generation, “BZ Berner Zeitung” and “Der Bund” Lucas Leemann (left) and Fabio founded the "Tages-Anzeiger" in 1893. Wasserfallen conduct scientific surveys presidential campaign in 2016. The daily newspapers “Der Bund” and “BZ for Tamedia. Berner Zeitung” became part of Tamedia Ltd after the latter acquired Espace Media Ltd in Berne in 2007. Key fi gures in CHF mn 2017 2016 Change Income statement Revenues 974.2 1 004.8 –3.0% Operating income before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) 245.2 201.0 22.0% Margin 25.2% 20.0% 25.8% Operating income (EBIT) 180.7 113.5 59.3% Margin 18.6% 11.3% 64.3% Net income 170.2 122.3 39.1% of which attributable to Tamedia shareholders 146.9 104.7 40.3% attributable to non-controlling interests 23.3 17.6 32.2% Revenue by business division with third parties Paid Media 586.0 616.8 –5.0% Free Media 153.2 162.3 –5.6% Marketplaces and Ventures 235.0 225.6 4.1% Balance sheet Current assets 330.9 308.9 7.1% Non-current assets 2 182.5 2 112.2 3.3% Balance sheet total 2 513.3 2 421.1 3.8% Liabilities 543.7 665.0 –18.2% Equity 1 969.6 1 756.1 12.2% Financial key data Equity ratio 78.4 72.5 8.0% Return on equity 8.6 7.0 24.0% Employee key data Headcount as of balance sheet date 1 3 261 3 296 –1.1% Revenue per staff member 2 in CHF 000 304.0 306.2 –0.7% Key fi gures per share Net income per share in CHF 13.87 9.89 40.3% Dividends per share in CHF 4.50 3 4.50 0.0% Dividend yield 4 3.3% 2.9% 13.0% Price/earnings ratio 4 x 9.9 15.8 –37.0% 1 Number of full-time equivalents 2 Based on the average number of employees 3 Proposed appropriation of profi t by the Board of Directors 4 Based on year-end price The annual report 2017 of Tamedia is also available as mobile app for iOS and Android. Editorial by the Chairman of the Board of Directors Guiding our traditional core business into a prosperous future Dr. Pietro Supino, Publisher and Chairman 1 Ladies and Gentlemen decisiveness, the sum total of which brought about the good Looking back over the financial year just gone, two result for the year. They all deserve high praise and much long-term ambitions that stretch well beyond 2017 remain thanksforthis.Ouremployeeshaveaprofitparticipationof significant.Thefirstisafundamentaloverhaulofhowour CHF 2,446 per full-time equivalent (as against CHF 2,156 in the paid-fordailynewspapersareproduced.Thisisessentialif previousyear)inthispleasingresult.Thepositiveyear-end we are to counter the persistent pressure being exerted on result means that we can pay out an unchanged dividend of their business model and ensure viable foundations for CHF4.50pershare. independentjournalism.Thesecondobjectiveistodeve- As well as doing our day-to-day work, we also made lopnewoffersandtoachieveagaingrowthasacompany. successfulprogressinthestrategicareasthatIreferredto This is because, despite a dynamic trend over recent e a r l i e r . years, our revenues have flatlined as our core business As part of our “Project 2020”, the editors-in-chief and has been in decline and looks set to remain so for the publishing directors of all newspapers were joined by other time being. Alongside tending to our core business, key individuals to answer the question of how we will have therefore, we also need to diversify our portfolio and to position ourselves in order to keep on producing good- Editorial by the Chairman of the Board of Directors investinnewareas. quality journalism if income falls by a third – something that Aswellaspursuingthesetwoarmsofourstrategy,wedo seems likely in the foreseeable future if the current trend not want to neglect our ongoing activities in a challenging continues. environment.Inparticular,themarketforprintadvertising WelaunchedtheprojectbackinDecember2016.Ledby continued to shrink, forcing us to contend with a CHF 35 million Ueli Eckstein, who was a member of the Management Board dropinourincome.Nevertheless,theoverallresultatyear- for many years, over 30 colleagues from across the company endwasgood,andevenupslightlyonthepreviousyearafter came up with ideas, proposed solutions and devised adjustingforexceptionalitems. actionplans.ThefinalstrategywasapprovedinAugust2017 OurManagementBoardheadedbyChristophTonini,our beforebeingrefinedoversubsequentweeks.Implementation management and our employees showed great dedication in then began on 8 January 2018, since when the company’s facinguptotheoperationalchallengesdayin,dayout.They combined skills in domestic and international politics, the developed new solutions with creativity and took action with economy, business, knowledge, culture, society and sport as well as the research desk have been pooled in the two new work in this regard, from the design and planning on the Tamedia editorial teams in German- and French-speaking drawing board right through to the brass tacks of the actual Switzerland. implementation. Bundling our expertise in this systematic way is laying Ifwearetoremainanattractiveemployerandasuccessful thefoundationsfromwhichwewanttofulfilourmissionin business, we have to be able to retain the best journalists in journalism – with painstaking research, with background oureditorialteamsandenticenewonestojointhem.Overthe reports, with data journalism and infographics, and, across past few months, therefore, we have developed a concept with 2 the board, by using the new opportunities that technology is theworkingtitleof“CareerProspectsforJournalists”,which openingupforus. addsanew“expert”careerpathwaytoourexistingones.This Of course, we are well aware of the predicament of is geared towards accelerating skills development and digital balancingqualityanddiversity.Preservingthelattercomes transformation on our editorial teams and improving the at the expense of the resources available in the individual transferofexpertisewithinourGroup. editorial teams, while pooling resources boosts quality but The“CareerProspectsforJournalists”projectisclosely erodesdiversity.Facedwiththisdilemma,wehavetocome linked to the “Quality in Journalism” initiative, which we down on the side of quality: only hard-hitting editorial teams implemented at all our media last year with a quality equippedwithsufficientresourcescanperformtheirrolesfor monitoringprogramme.Thisisbasedonthemanualthat theserviceofsocietyandpublicaffairs. setsoutourphilosophy,whichwaspublishedinMay2017.As It goes without saying that bundling expertise is well as upholding the general rules of the trade, we want to most expedient where there is broad diversity in the media evaluate and further improve the quality of our journalism system – in other words, more so at international and national basedonnuanceddefinitionsof“addedvalue”.Wegivean level than regionally and locally. In our small country, this accountofourGroup-widequalitymonitoringprogramme, represents a unique opportunity to embed our offers in which is headed up by the former Tages-Anzeiger editor-in- r e a d e r s ’ m i n d s . chiefResStrehle,inadedicatedreport. Editorial by the Chairman of the Board of Directors Maintaining distinct identities is still important emotio- We can be pleased that the many varied efforts being nally,bothfromareader’sperspectiveandformediamakers. madetogivejournalismahealthyfuturearebearingfruit.In Thisiswhyournewspapershaveretainedtheirowneditorial other countries too, major media outlets such as the Financial teams, whose skills extend beyond purely local and regional Times, the Washington Post, the Economist and the NewYork affairs.Partoftheirworkisalsotomakeselectionsandset Times – as well as some that are rather more comparable prioritiesfromdifferentpointsofview–andtokeepondeve- with us on grounds of their size, such as de Volkskrant in the lopingtheirpublicationsundertheirownsteam. NetherlandsorNorway’sAmediaGroup–showthatthereis Producing media, especially newspapers, is a complex reasontobeconfident. process.Amerefewweeksintothenewera,itisunsurprising One example of a successful transformation that ranks as that not everything is running perfectly just yet. However, outstanding even in the entire global media industry is that of it is remarkable how smoothly the changeover has gone 20 Minuten.Havingastrongpresenceinallpartsofthecountry and how well it has been received in the main. Our isallowingthepublicationtomorethanoffsetashrinkingprint editorial teams deserve a major compliment for all their hard market by growing its digital channels. Meanwhile, a clear strategy and a good helping of know-how are opening up are also taking inspiration from Sweden’s Wallenberg dynasty: potential areas of growth in other countries – we already “Tomovefromtheoldtowhatisabouttocomeistheonly haveapresenceinDenmark,LuxembourgandAustria.