Improvements in Q3: ProSiebenSat.1 dares new outlook after recovery – ProSieben share gains | message

The television group ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE benefited from the return of its advertising customers in the third quarter. The operating result adjusted for special effects (adjusted Ebitda) rose in the months of July to September compared to the previous year by 13 percent to 149 million euros, as the RTL competitor announced on Thursday in Munich. Sales fell by one percent to 921 million euros. The profit doubled to 69 million euros after the group was still in the red in the second quarter.

In the meantime, the Group is venturing again to make an annual forecast: ProSiebenSat.1 expects sales of between EUR 3.85 and 3.95 billion after EUR 4.13 billion in the previous year and an adjusted operating profit of EUR 600 to 650 million after EUR 872 million in the previous year. In terms of operating profit, the group is more optimistic than most of the equity analysts polled by Bloomberg. The prerequisite, however, is that the economic environment remains stable and there are no new restrictions. The television company normally generates 40 percent of its annual profit in the last quarter.

“We are very satisfied with our development in the third quarter,” said CFO and CEO Rainer Beaujean. The pharmaceutical and automotive industries are spending more money on TV advertising again, advertising revenues in the third quarter were only 6 percent below the previous year, Beaujean said. That continued in October. In November he saw the advertising revenue over the previous year. The online drugstore Flaconi is doing very well and is compensating for the declines on the Billiger-Mietwagen.de portal he with a view to lower program costs.

The newly acquired US dating portal Meet Group contributed 26 million euros to group sales of 921 million euros and was therefore an important factor in ensuring that the proceeds hardly fell. ProSiebenSat.1 wants to cash in soon with the newly formed Parship Meet Group, which also includes the dating agencies Parship and ElitePartner and the dating portal Lovoo: “With a partial exchange in 2022, we want this value to be tangible for our stakeholders do, “said Beaujean.

In September, the sale of the MyLoc portal brought 35 million euros to the till, and in October the online pharmacy Windstar Medical was sold. As soon as brands and companies with TV advertising are known and large enough, ProSiebenSat.1 will check whether it will sell the shares again. He wants to invest heavily in the program – around one billion euros annually, half of it in local and live formats. At 2.5 billion euros, the mountain of debt was 100 million euros smaller than a year ago.

On the stock exchange, the numbers and the outlook ensured a significant price increase. In the morning, the share rose by up to 11.6 percent to 11.135 euros and was thus at the top of the MDAX. Since the end of 2019, however, there has still been a discount of around a fifth on the price list. According to the figures, JPMorgan analyst Daniel Kerven confirmed his “Overweight” classification and the price target that was only raised to EUR 18 on Wednesday. The group performed significantly better than expected.

FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX / Dow Jones)

Image sources: Jan Pitman / Getty Images, Holger Rauner ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG