Earnings Release • May 14, 2012
Earnings Release
Open in ViewerOpens in native device viewer
ACTIVITIES REPORT FIRST QUARTER 2012 14 MAY 2012
REGULATED INFORMATION // EMBARGO – 14 MAY 2012, 07.30 CET. ROULARTA MEDIA GROUP
In the first quarter of 2012 Roularta Media Group posted consolidated sales of EUR 187.7 million, compared with EUR 187.4 million in Q1 2011.
| Division | 31/03/2011 | 31/03/2012 | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Printed Media & Internet & Events | 145,950 | 144,226 | - 1.2% |
| Audiovisual Media | 42,633 | 44,690 | + 4.8% |
| Intersegment sales | - 1,181 | - 1,203 | |
| Consolidated sales | 187,402 | 187,713 | + 0.2% |
Sales in the first quarter of 2012 dipped slightly compared with Q1 2011. The readers' market is holding up and the results of the recent 'Executives and Managers' study confirm the leadership of Roularta magazines in Belgium. The comparable new study 'One' gives the same good results for the French market.
The new lifestyle magazines 'The Good Life' and 'Trends Style' in Belgium both got off to a good start. Trends Style is distributed with the entire edition of Trends and the Dutch language version of The Good Life guarantees a net circulation of 40,000 copies.
Advertising revenue from freesheets fell by 8.0% in the first quarter. This fall, that affected both De Streekkrant/De Weekkrant and De Zondag, is due mainly to a fall in job ads.
Advertising revenue from magazines, on the other hand, remained more or less at last year's level (-1.5%), while growing at the Krant van West-Vlaanderen (+ 16.4%).
» READERS' MARKET (NEWSSTAND SALES, SUBSCRIPTIONS)
Revenue from the readers' market in the first quarter of 2012 was in line with Q1 2011 (+0.2%).
» TYPESETTING AND PRINTING
Third party typesetting and printing rose by 2.6% compared with Q1 2011. Roularta Printing welcomed a number of new customers.
Revenues from trade fairs and seminars rose by 4.7%. Leaving aside recently-acquired New Bizz Partners (Ondernemen/ Entreprendre fair), the increase is 0.6%.
Revenues from the various Internet sites continue to grow. In the first place there are the newssites knack.be, levif.be and lexpress.fr, with quality content and fast-growing advertising income. These are joined by a number of large dedicated sites and new initiatives, including streekpersoneel.be, immovlan.be, autovlan.be, letudiant.fr, distrijob.fr and Roularta Lead Generation, where advertisers can purchase targeted business leads.
Sales here grew, both in Belgium and France, by over 20% in the first quarter.
In April, Roularta Media Group launched a new group buying website www.wikiwin.be. The site proposes 'deals' based on group purchasing and also publishes promotions offering major reductions on consumer items. Wikiwin was started in West Flanders, around the cities of Bruges, Kortrijk, Ostend and Roeselare. Other major Flemish cities will follow in the coming months.
Compared with Q1 2011, sales by the Audiovisual Media division rose from EUR 42.6 to 44.7 million (+ 4.8%).
Advertising revenue at the TV and radio stations of the VMMa group, Kanaal Z and the regional stations grew by 3.7% in the first quarter.
Sales from other revenue-producing areas, including audio-visual productions, line extensions, SMS, video-on-demand, rights, etc., rose by 9.2%, owing mainly to an increase in audiovisual productions for third parties.
The fact that advertisers are making advertising spending decisions at the very last minute makes it difficult to make predictions into the future. The second quarter started very cautiously, with the exception of the 'free press' division, where sales are growing at De Streekkrant, De Zondag and Steps, regaining the ground lost in the first quarter.
| Contact persons | Rik De Nolf (CEO) | Jan Staelens (CFO) |
|---|---|---|
| Tel: | + 32 51 266 323 | + 32 51 266 326 |
| Fax: | + 32 51 266 593 | + 32 51 266 627 |
| e-mail: | [email protected] | [email protected] |
| URL: | www.roularta.be |
Building tools?
Free accounts include 100 API calls/year for testing.
Have a question? We'll get back to you promptly.