Current macroeconomic conditions make no impression on Ströer: double-digit growth in revenue and earnings in the first half with a good outlook for the third quarter

Ströer SE & Co. KGaA has published its results for the first half of 2022. Despite challenging market conditions, consolidated revenue increased by a substantial 18% in the reporting period, from EUR 686m to EUR 810m. Organic revenue growth came to 18.4%. With an increase of around 22%, EBITDA (adjusted) for the first six months of 2022 rose at a faster rate than revenue to reach EUR 220m (H1 2021: EUR 180m).

Structural growth in out-of-home advertising remains strong. Gross aggregate growth in the German advertising market in the first six months came to EUR 416m and was disproportionately attributable to the OOH market, which accounted for around 25% of that growth despite currently accounting for just 6.8% of the total market. The rapid pace of growth in the digital OOH market will be a key factor propelling Ströer forward over the next ten years. In the first half of 2022, Ströer’s digital OOH revenue expanded by a record 99% year on year. Digital OOH is currently the fastest-growing segment in the global media market by far. Ströer expects to report renewed growth in the coming third quarter despite the fact that the comparative prior-year figures are excellent as there was a rebound in Q3 of the prior year. Despite challenging market conditions, this success will be founded not least on Ströer’s position as market leader in Germany for comprehensive, local marketing of media. 

This healthy level of earnings also underscores the success of the OOH+ strategy – the combination of the core OOH business with the related business segments Digital & Dialog Media and DaaS & E-Commerce. Ströer’s strong market position, high proportion of local customers, and diversified business model enabled it to largely cushion the negative impact of the war in Ukraine while at the same time allowing it to unlock opportunities and potential in its digital business lines. All segments contributed to the very robust growth in the first half of the year, with a strong performance in digital out-of-home advertising, a surge in demand for programmatic marketing and very buoyant local and regional business. Asam and Statista, which grew by 16% and 42% respectively, continued on their long-term growth trajectory.

“Despite the challenging conditions, our business has achieved solid growth across the board, in line with our pre-crisis planning. The great figures for the first six months are testimony to the fact that our OOH+ strategy is sufficiently resilient,” says Christian Schmalzl, Co-CEO of Ströer. “Thanks to our strong regional and local business and the continual growth of our digital OOH advertising portfolio, the level of order intake remains strong. We consequently expect to buck the market trend in the third quarter with mid-single-digit percentage growth.”

OOH Media
The revenue of the OOH Media segment rose by a considerable 35% in the first half of 2022, from EUR 250m to EUR 339m. The segment notched up even higher growth in EBITDA (adjusted), which climbed 47% from EUR 100m to EUR 147m over the same period. The EBITDA margin (adjusted) stood at 43.4% (H1 2021: 40.0%).

Digital & Dialog Media
In the first six months of 2022, the Digital & Dialog Media segment also generated encouraging revenue growth of 7% in organic terms and 4.8% in reported terms, which represents an increase from EUR 335m to EUR 352m. At EUR 77.9m, EBITDA (adjusted) was slightly lower than the prior-year figure of EUR 82.7m. The EBITDA margin (adjusted) stood at 22.1% (H1 2021: 24.7%). 

DaaS & E-Commerce
The DaaS & E-Commerce segment generated revenue growth of 27%, with revenue jumping from EUR 112m to EUR 142m in the first half of 2022. EBITDA (adjusted) for the first six months stood at around EUR 10m (H1 2021: EUR 11.4m) and the EBITDA margin (adjusted) at 7.1% (H1 2021: 10.2%) on the back of strong growth and an increasingly international business profile.

Disclaimer

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" regarding Ströer SE & Co. KGaA ("Ströer") or the Ströer Group, including assessments, estimates and forecasts regarding the financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of management and the future business activities of Ströer or the Ströer Group. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the results of operations, profitability, performance or achievements of Ströer or the Ströer Group to be materially different from any future results of operations, profitability, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and are based on numerous assumptions that may also prove to be incorrect. Ströer makes no representation and assumes no liability with respect to the fair presentation, completeness, correctness, adequacy or accuracy of the information and assessments contained herein. The information contained in this press release is subject to change without notice. It may be incomplete or abbreviated and may not contain all material information relating to Ströer or the Ströer Group. Ströer does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained herein, neither as a result of new information, future events nor otherwise.