E5C970DF-8D3C-4D9C-94D2-D346C03B48D3 09. August 2018

Press release

Strong H1 2018: Ströer sustainably increases revenue and earnings

Consolidated revenue in H1 up a substantial 24% from EUR 597m to EUR 742m / Organic growth at 7.8% for the first six months / Adjusted profit for the period developed very positively, climbing 21% from EUR 62m to EUR 75m

Ströer SE & Co. KGaA continued on the profitable growth course of the past fiscal years in H1 2018. H1 revenue mushroomed 24% like on like, up from EUR 597m to EUR 742m. Organic revenue growth stood at 7.8%. Operational EBITDA in the first six months climbed 12%, up from EUR 217m to EUR 242m (excluding the effects from IFRS 11 and IFRS 16, this represents an increase of 12% from EUR 136m to EUR 152m). Adjusted profit for the period developed very well, growing 21% from EUR 62m to EUR 75m (excluding the effects from IFRS 11 and IFRS 16, this represents an increase of 18% from EUR 70m to EUR 83m). 

Ströer successfully expanded its product portfolio, adding the newly established Direct Media segment and is thus in a position to offer integrated solutions available along the marketing and sales funnel and the entire customer journey. Strengthening operations with the heavily performance-driven dialog media business underlines Ströer’s strategic aim to be Germany’s most customer-centric media company.

“We continued on our profitable and sustainable growth course in the first six months of 2018 and our KPIs developed well. All segments contributed to this positive development,” 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, or operational EBITDA of around EUR 535m taking the effects from IFRS 11 and IFRS 16 into account, and total consolidated revenue of around EUR 1.6b.”

“Our strategic business expansion to include the Direct Media segment is already paying off. Segment revenue accounts for an increasingly important share of consolidated revenue. Our strong organic revenue growth in the first six months was fueled in particular by our digital business and our new dialog marketing business. We now also have the opportunity 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. “We are thus creating the conditions for the further profitable growth of our Company.”

Operating segments

Content Media

In the first six months of 2018, the Content Media segment grew its revenue considerably from EUR 239.7m to EUR 262.7m, with organic revenue growth of 12.8%. All product groups contributed to this positive performance. At EUR 76.3m, the segment’s operational EBITDA in the first six months of 2018 was on a par with the very strong result achieved in the prior year (prior year: EUR 76.5m (adjusted for IFRS 16)). The operational EBITDA margin of 29.0% (prior year: 31.9% (adjusted for IFRS 16)) was within the target range.

Direct Media

The new segment Direct Media comprises the dialog marketing and transactional product groups. Revenue in the Direct Media segment came to EUR 173.5m in H1 2018 (prior year: EUR 66.2m (adjusted for IFRS 16)). Given the fact that the dialog marketing operations were newly acquired, there are no comparative figures for the first half of the prior year for this product group. The integration of the newly acquired operations was driven forward in this segment in the reporting period. The segment generated operational EBITDA of EUR 28.8m (prior year: EUR 6.4m (adjusted for IFRS 16)) and an operational EBITDA margin of 16.6% in the reporting period (prior year: 9.6% (adjusted for IFRS 16)).

OOH Media

Revenue in the OOH Media segment rose to EUR 313.9m (prior year: EUR 303.3m (adjusted for IFRS 11)) in the first half of 2018 despite an overall challenging market environment. The segment generated slightly higher operational EBITDA of EUR 145.4m (prior year: EUR 144.2m (adjusted for IFRS 11 and IFRS 16)) and an operational EBITDA margin of 46.3% (prior year: 47.6% (adjusted for IFRS 11 and IFRS 16)) in the first half of 2018.

 

Disclaimer

This press release contains “forward looking statements” regarding Ströer SE & Co. KGaA (“Ströer”) or the Ströer Group, including opinions, estimates and projections regarding Ströer’s or the Ströer Group’s financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of management and future operations. Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Ströer or the Ströer Group to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These forward looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on numerous assumptions which may or may not prove to be correct. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made by Ströer with respect to the fairness, completeness, correctness, reasonableness or accuracy of any information and opinions contained herein. The information in this press release is subject to change without notice, it may be incomplete or condensed, and it may not contain all material information concerning Ströer or the Ströer Group. Ströer undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements or other information stated herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.