BUDAPEST: Despite seeing lower profit for the nine months ended September 30, RTL Group posted a revenue increase of 2.1 percent to €4.2 billion ($4.6 billion).
This revenue marked a new record level for the group, with gains driven by higher revenue from Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, Groupe M6, RTL Nederland and RTL Group’s rapidly growing digital businesses.
Reported EBITA was up 5.6 percent to €756 million ($823 million), with higher profit contribution from Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland and a positive one-off effect at Groupe M6. Despite significantly higher EBITA, net profit attributable to RTL Group shareholders was down year-on-year to €443 million ($482 million), hit by higher tax charges.
RTL Group’s digital revenue was up 25 percent to €430 million ($468 million). The group estimates that the net TV advertising markets were up in all markets in which the Group is active, with the exception of the Netherlands and Hungary.
FremantleMedia saw EBITA decreased to €47 million ($51 million), impacted by “higher investments in the creative pipeline,” according to RTL Group.
Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s EBITA increased by 2.4 percent to €468 million ($509 million), driven by higher TV and digital advertising and platform revenue.
Groupe M6’s EBITA was up sharply to €173 million ($188 million). A one-off effect from the gradual phase-out of the M6 Mobile contract more than offset the impact of the higher programming costs for the EUFA Euro 2016 live broadcasts.
At RTL Nederland, EBITA was stable at €52 million ($57 million). Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch, co-CEOs of RTL Group, commented: “During the first nine months of 2016, RTL Group once again demonstrated the sustainable success of its diversified portfolio and growth strategy. Despite two major sport events during the summer, we were able to increase both revenue and EBITA once again. This result was mainly driven by the strong performance of Groupe M6, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland and our rapidly growing digital business.
