Kirch sells off ProSieben interest to Saban, Verlag
Good results for b'caster trigger share lift
|
Kirch Media's 14.7% stake will be split by Saban's P7S1 Holding and ProSiebenSat.1 shareholder Axel Springer Verlag, which will increase its stake from 10.2 to 12%.
Move, which is costing Saban an estimated E200 million ($247 million), will leave P7S1 with more than 50% of the company's common stock and 88% of the voting shares.
On Friday ProSiebenSat.1 posted a consolidated net profit of $90 million -- up from $5 million in the same period last year. Revenue increased 6% to $1.1 billion.
For the first time ever, ProSiebenSat.1's four channels -- ProSieben, Sat.1, Kabel 1 and N24 -- reached operational profitability: ProSieben saw a 56% increase in pre-tax earnings to $121 million; Sat.1 boosted its pre-tax profit to $77 million after a pre-tax loss of $6.2 million last year; Kabel 1 nearly doubled its pre-tax profit to $15.3 million; and 24-hour news channel N24 made it into the black with nearly $250,000 compared to its previous pre-tax loss of $16 million.
"The first half came out better than we had planned," said ProSiebenSat.1 chief exec Guillaume de Posch. "We were able to improve the group's structures and to enhance our stations' performance. This is also evident in our revenues. Nevertheless, the growth in profit is not only due to revenue increases, but also significantly due to the company's effective cost management. As the figures prove, the ProSiebenSat.1 group is back on track."
Company managed to save more than $900 million by cutting costs across the board and slashed its debt in half to $522 million through refinancing.
In a conference call, de Posch said the advertising market has recovered better than expected, adding that growth of 2% is expected in TV ad sales. As a result, ProSiebenSat.1 is also expecting revenue growth of 2%, "unless something unforeseen happens," de Posch added.
While RTL Television remains Germany's leading channel, the ProSiebenSat.1 group is the country's leading broadcasting group with a 42.9% share of Germany's TV advertising market, compared to 37.7% held by RTL and its affiliated channels. ProSiebenSat.1 also saw its market share among commercially key 14- to 49-year-old viewers grow 0.6% to 29.5% compared to the RTL webs' 25.3% share.
Fall highlights
New fall highlights on ProSieben include blockbuster movies like "Spider-Man" and "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones"; new series "The OC" and "Nip/Tuck"; and reality formats "The Swan" and "Apprentice" clone "Hire or Fire" with John de Mol; while Sat.1 is airing fantasy-adventure mini "Kingdom in Twilight."
De Posch added that ProSiebenSat.1 had ended talks with German paybox Premiere to take over three of its digital channels, saying the companies were unable to reach an acceptable agreement. He reiterated ProSiebenSat.1's opposition to the bid by Munich-based cable giant Kabel Deutschland to take over all of Germany's regional cable franchises -- which is under review by Germany's cartel authority -- but added that ProSiebenSat.1 was interested in developing digital channels for Kabel Deutschland's digital platform.
ProSiebenSat.1 shares closed at $16.42 Friday, up nearly 4%.
