KirchMedia reports can look back on a successful fiscal year 2000:
· Integration of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG
· Annual sales of rose DM 6,508 million
· Systematic expansion of sports-rights trading activities
· Film assets greew by DM 1,060 million to DM 6,212 million
Well positioned as a fully-integrated media enterprise
Munich, 24 July 2001 Following the merger and integration of ProSieben Sat.1 Media AG, KirchMedia GmbH & Co. KGaA can look back on a successful fiscal year 2000.
The KirchMedia Group recorded sales of DM 6,508 million last year, which was an increase of 64.2 percent compared with 1999*. The result of ordinary operations amounted to DM 536 million. Representing a margin of around 14 percent, the EBITDA for the entire year 2000 reached DM 923 million, compared with DM 789 million in 1999. The film assets held by KirchMedia – licensing rights to movies, series and sports programmes – rose to DM 6,212 million during the fiscal year 2000. For the first time commercial television topped rights trading to become the KirchMedia Division with the highest sales volume, reaching approx. 66 percent of total sales. Rights trading contributed 25percent of total sales.
‘2000 was a year of strategic decision-making for KirchMedia, during which we continued to expand into a fully-integrated media enterprise. The addition of new shareholders was a basic requirement for creating the broadcasting family and at the same time strengthened our equity base. We are now eligible for the capital market,’ stated Jan Mojto, Deputy Chairman of the KirchMedia Executive Board.
* The Consolidated Financial Statements of KirchMedia, as principal shareholder of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, are largely influenced by the first-time consolidation of the ProSiebenSat.1 subgroup. The ProSieben-Gruppe was included in the KirchMedia Consolidated Financial Statements for the first time as of 1.1.2000, the SAT.1 group having already been consolidated during the 1999 financial year. For this reason, comparison of KirchMedia´s trading figures for the years 1999 and 2000 is only possible to a limited extent.
Foundations laid for further growth:
During the last fiscal year, the KirchGruppe undertook a series of measures to lay the foundations for further growth on the part of KirchMedia.
· By forming KirchHolding GmbH & Co. KG as an umbrella central holding company for KirchMedia GmbH & Co. KGaA, KirchPayTV GmbH & Co. KGaA and KirchBeteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG in March 2000, the KirchGruppe paved the way for further positive impact on the development of KirchMedia.
· The merger of the free-TV stations, SAT.1, ProSieben, Kabel 1 and N24, to form ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG has created considerable potential for increased efficiency. In the course of its formation, the number of shareholders was increased to include Thomas Kirch and the REWE-Gruppe, in this way strengthening the company´s equity base even further.
· The newly-created Sports Division continued to gain significance by acquiring additional attractive TV-broadcasting rights. In June 2000, KirchSport GmbH was formed to optimise sports-marketing activities. This new holding company bundles the sports-rights agencies Prisma Sports & Media AG and CWL Telesport und Marketing AG, as well as the future stake in ISPR GmbH. Over the next few years, it will give rise to major synergies when buying and selling rights. Approximately 18,000 hours of programmes were produced in the sports sector during 2000.
· Bundling all Internet activities into the newly-formed company, Kirch Intermedia, has led to the creation of a new, central multimedia service company, which systematically promotes the expansion, control and networking of online brands within the KirchGruppe.
· In future, show and entertainment formats will be gaining particular importance. KirchMedia Entertainment, formed at the end of 2000, has been developing, producing and marketing these programmes since the beginning of 2001. The demand for high-quality and inexpensively-produced shows is growing, but there are only few providers in this sector. KirchMedia wants to continue to establish itself as a quality brand on the German entertainment market.
· Programme assets are a key value factor for KirchMedia. Film assets rose to DM 6,212 million during the 2000 fiscal year.
Business trends in 2001:
‘As a fully-integrated media enterprise active at all levels of the value chain, KirchMedia is well positioned, even in a rather difficult market environment. We are expecting continued growth with a stable level of earnings. Formation of a the broadcasting family was an important strategic decision which will help to secure and expand KirchMedia´s strong position in the increasingly competitive television market of the future,’ adds Jan Mojto.
The free-TV stations belonging to KirchMedia will be continuing their profit-oriented growth strategy. Over the next four to five years, the broadcasting family will double its profit margin from 10 to 20 percent. The future success of KirchMedia will continue to be determined to a large extent by the creation and marketing of programme content. Sales revenue in the rights-trading sector will continue to develop positively. In the sports sector, sales from football rights will have a particularly significant impact.
KirchMedia GmbH & Co. KGaA* Consolidated Key Ratios
Fiscal year 2000 1999
Sales (DM mill.) 6,508 3,963
Result of ordinary operations (DM mill.) 536 502
EBITDA (DM mill.) 923 789
Cash Flow acc. to DVFA (DM mill.) 455 525
Total assets (DM mill.) 10,729 9,952
Equity (DM mill.) 3,346 2,652
Film assets (DM mill.) 6,212 5,152
Employees at balance sheet date 31.12. 5,626 2,969
KirchMedia GmbH & Co. KGaA bundles the activities of the KirchGruppe in the fields of commercial television/New Media, rights trading, sports, production and technology.
Charts from the Annual Press Conference can be downloaded at www.kirchmedia.de in German and English. Press kits can be ordered by e-mail at www.pr@kirchmedia.de.
Queries to:
KirchMedia GmbH & Co. KGaA
Hartmut Schultz
Corporate Spokesman
Tel: +49 (0)89 9956-2325
Fax: +49 (0)89 9956-2330
hartmut.schultz@kirchgruppe.de