Springer profit jumps:
FRANKFURT: German media giant Axel Springer SE said yesterday that it was sticking to its full-year targets after its booming digital business powered strong earnings growth in the first three months.
“During the first three months of the 2016 financial year, Axel Springer profited once again from the growth momentum of its digital business models,” the company said in a statement.
“Based on the development during the first quarter, Axel Springer is keeping its forecast unchanged for a rise in sales of around 5%.’’
In the first three months, net profit increased nearly fivefold to €209.4 million ($238 million) from €43 million a year earlier, driven in part by divestments, Springer, publisher of the Bild and Die Welt newspapers, said.
Stripped of those windfall gains, profit was up 13.3% at €65.3 million.
Underlying or operating profit grew by 5.2% to €125.9 million on a 0.4% increase in revenues to €783.4 million.
Axel Springer said its digital businesses now accounted for 67% of revenues and 72% of operating profit.
“During the first quarter, and taking into account all digital platforms, the company attained 200 million unique users worldwide as a monthly average,” it boasted.
Axel Springer has invested heavily in its digital business in recent years, particularly in the online editions of its dailies Bild and Die Welt, as well as in its small-ads portals.
“During the first quarter, we made good progress with the implementation of our digital growth projects,” said chief executive Mathias Doepfner.
“With our digital offerings we are reaching 200 million users worldwide. Three quarters of our users can be attributed to our journalistic brands. We want to continue expanding this strong reach.”