RTL record revenue but suffers abroad
February 25, 2013
RTL Group’s revenue reached a record €6 billion in 2012, 4 per cent up, despite the challenging economic environment.
For the third consecutive year, RTL Group generated an EBITA of more than €1 billion, though it decreased 4.9 per cent to €1.078 billion as a significantly higher profit contribution from the German TV operations was offset by lower results from operations facing more challenging market conditions in other countries, higher investment in programming and portfolio effects such as the disposal of the Dutch radio stations.
Reported EBITA margin remained at a healthy level of 18.0 per cent (2011: 19.7 per cent).
Net profit was down to €597 million (2011: €696 million), mainly due to an impairment amounting to €72 million on RTL Group’s shareholding in the Spanish broadcaster Grupo Antena 3.
Throughout 2012, European TV advertising markets clearly reflected local macroeconomic developments: while the German TV advertising market was slightly up, the French, Dutch and Belgian markets were estimated to be down year-on-year, with a significant slowdown over the second half of the year; markets in Spain, Hungary and Croatia continued to experience a more pronounced decline. 44 per cent of RTL Group’s revenue originates from a broad range of non-advertising activities such as content production, rights trading, teleshopping, e-commerce and merchandising.