Ströer on track to achieve annual targets after strong third quarter

Ströer SE & Co. KGaA performed very well in the third quarter of 2018 and continued on the successful and profitable growth course of the past fiscal years. Revenue in the first three quarters was up 28% year on year, from EUR 870m to EUR 1,113m, with organic growth strong at 8.1%. Operational EBITDA grew 15% in the same period, up from EUR 317m to EUR 364m (excluding the effects from IFRS 11 and IFRS 16, this reflects an increase of 13% from EUR 207m to EUR 235m). Adjusted profit developed very well, growing 18% from EUR 101m to EUR 119m (excluding the effects from IFRS 11 and IFRS 16, this represents an increase of 18% from EUR 110m to EUR 130m). The leverage ratio stood at 1.8 at the end of the third quarter of 2018.

Ströer continued to strategically focus on the German market and its own profitable core business in the third quarter and, in this connection, also successfully sold its Turkish OOH operations. The deconsolidation as part of the planned portfolio optimizations will sustainably strengthen profitability, increase shareholder value and further sharpen the Company’s financial profile.

“We are continuing on our profitable and sustainable growth course and are clearly focusing on the German core business. All segments developed positively and complement each other very well. Our OOH segment is embedded in a systematic, cross-media sales organization supplemented by Content and Direct Media,” says Udo Müller, founder and co-CEO of Ströer. “We are confirming our guidance for 2018 of operational EBITDA of around EUR 375m before IFRS effects and total consolidated revenue of around EUR 1.6b.”

“A key USP for many of our customer is Ströer’s integrated product portfolio of OOH, Content and Dialog Media. This enables us to talk to our customers about holistic performance-based solutions, ranging from location and content-specific reach across the entire spectrum of Dialog Marketing through to the final transaction and customer retention,” explains Ströer’s co-CEO Christian Schmalzl. “With our integrated product portfolio and our focus on core business we are creating the conditions for the further profitable growth of our Company.”

Operating segments

Content Media

Revenue in the Content Media segment, including the core product DOOH (Public Video), was up a significant 10.2% in the first nine months of 2018, rising from EUR 358m to EUR 394m. Organic growth came to 17.8% in the third quarter of 2018, with all product groups contributing appreciably to this positive performance. Overall, the segment’s results for the first three quarters of 2018 matched the excellent prior-year figures, with operational EBITDA up at EUR 122m (prior year: EUR 115m (adjusted for IFRS 16)). At 30.9%, the operational EBITDA margin remained at the prior-year level.

Direct Media

Segment revenue of Direct Media in the first nine months of fiscal year 2018 climbed from EUR 117m to EUR 271m. The segment reported organic growth of 5.0% in the third quarter of 2018 and was thus at the level of the prior quarter. The segment generated operational EBITDA of EUR 43m (prior year: EUR 12m (adjusted for IFRS 16)) and an operational EBITDA margin of 15.9% (prior year: 10% (adjusted for IFRS 16)) in the first three quarters.

OOH Media

Revenue in the OOH Media segment rose 12% from EUR 413m to EUR 461m (adjusted for IFRS 11) in the first nine months of 2018 despite the overall challenging marketing environment. Organic growth came to 3.7% in Q3. The segment generated operational EBITDA of EUR 213m (prior year: EUR 206m (adjusted for IFRS 11 and IFRS 16)) and an operational EBITDA margin of 46.1% (prior year: 49.9% (adjusted for IFRS 11 and IFRS 16)) in the first three quarters of 2018.