• At EUR 458.3 million, Group sales slightly above the adjusted target corridor
  • Profit from operations (EBIT) drops to EUR 8.3 million; earnings attributable to shareholders at minus EUR 10.7 million
  • Substantial coverage growth in the Sports Segment
  • Constantin Film production "Fack ju Göhte" most-watched film in Germany in 2013

Constantin Medien AG looks back on an overall difficult financial year 2013, which dealt with numerous strategic advancements, especially with respect to the further development of sports activities in the digital age. Nonetheless, the economic performance was behind the original targets. That is why the media group adjusted its sales and earnings targets for 2013 already in November. Today, Constantin Medien is publishing its consolidated financial statements for the financial year 2013.

Group performance in 2013
  • Group sales reached EUR 458.3 million in the year under review or 12.0 percent below the high prior year's figure of EUR 520.5 million and slightly above the adjusted target of between EUR 430 million and EUR 450 million.

  • Profit from operations (EBIT) decreased to EUR 8.3 million compared to 2012 (EUR 21.6 million). Whereas the earnings decline was expected in the Film Segment and the Sports- and Event-Marketing Segment, the Sports Segment and the Other Business Activities Segment did not achieve earnings expectations.

  • Group net result (earnings after taxes) amounted to EUR -6.1 million after EUR 12.5 million the year before.

  • The earnings attributable to shareholders included in the Group net result stood at EUR -10.7 million (2012: EUR 5.0 million).

Performance of Segments in 2013
  • In the reporting year, the Sports Segment significantly advanced its multimedia strategy once again and carried out extensive investments in new products and platforms, license rights, programs and in the branding of SPORT1. Among others, highlights were the kick-off of the digital sports radio SPORT1.fm and the pay-TV channel SPORT1 US as well as the new corporate design of the umbrella brand SPORT1. The free-TV channel SPORT1 succeeded in raising the market share by 27 percent from 1.1 to 1.4 percent in the target group males aged 14 to 49 years. Pleasing growth rates were also achieved by the pay-TV channel SPORT1+ and the online and mobile offers of SPORT1.

    Nonetheless, the increase in coverage and market share could not be directly monetarized. In this context, the free-TV channel SPORT1 still had agreements with the advertisers and media agencies that were based on the weaker coverage and market share rates of the year 2012. This circumstance, the lower-than-expected revenues from the advertising of sports betting and in the nighttime program as well as the loss of the Bundesliga channel LIGA total! led to a decline in segment sales of 9.0 percent to EUR 147.4 million in 2013. Segment result amounted to EUR -2.8 million following EUR +4.9 million in the previous year.

  • In the Film Segment, the comedy "Fack ju Göhte", which was released in the cinemas at the beginning of November, already enthralled 5.6 million moviegoers by the end of 2013, catapulting to the most-watched film of the year in Germany. In the meantime, the Constantin Film production has been viewed by more than 7 million moviegoers, which has become the third most successful German film based on the box office receipts since the German reunification. Nevertheless, sales from theatrical distribution were at the lower end of the budget in 2013, essentially because some international licensed titles did not meet expectations. In contrast, the sales development in the TV service production division was better than in the previous year. In total, sales in the Film Segment reached EUR 268.3 million or 8.5 percent behind the prior year. The lower sales and higher-than-budgeted release costs led to a decline in segment result from EUR 8.8 million to EUR 4.7 million.

  • In the Sports- and Event-Marketing Segment, besides the processing of the current season, the agenda of the marketing company TEAM included the marketing of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League for the seasons 2015/2016 to 2017/18. At EUR 39.7 million, segment sales in 2013 were 31.1 percent behind the prior year. As already communicated several times, the reason for this is primarily the change in the business relationship with the UEFA, which leads also to a lower cost-base. At EUR 14.2 million, segment result remained slightly below the prior year's figure (EUR 14.7 million), which included PPA-amortization for the last time.

  • The Other Business Activities Segment, which includes the marketing of the Eurovision Song Contest and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as well as activities in the field of the online/social gaming, generated sales of EUR 2.9 million in 2013 (2012: EUR 7.9 million). This expected sales development largely related to the discontinuance of the sale of certain gaming machines for casinos as a result of the prior year's focus on the event and entertainment business. The successful event and entertainment business gained both in terms of sales and earnings. But due to impairment of intangible assets of Pokermania GmbH, the segment earnings of EUR -3.3 million were lower than expected (2012: EUR -2.2 million).

Bernhard Burgener, CEO of Constantin Medien AG: "2013 was a difficult year for Constantin Medien, in which our economic targets were not reached. Sales and earnings performance were below our expectations. However, we made major strategic progress, particularly in the Sports Segment, to profit from the opportunities in digitalization in the coming years. Hence, all our energy is being directed in the sports business on a wide multimedia presence of the SPORT1 brand. Furthermore, the growing fragmentation of programs in the digital age opens up new sales channels for our Film Segment that we want to use."

Targets for financial year 2014
The Management Board is currently expecting consolidated sales within a target range of between EUR 420 million and EUR 460 million for financial year 2014. Earnings attributable to shareholders are expected to range between EUR 13 million and EUR 15 million. These targets are valid under the condition that the sale of the 100 percent interest in the PLAZAMEDIA group and the 25.1 percent interest each in Sport1 GmbH and Constantin Sport Marketing GmbH to Sky Deutschland Fernsehen GmbH & Co. KG, that was signed in December 2013, will be closed in the first half of 2014. Should the transaction fail to take place, earnings attributable to shareholders would be significantly impacted and would lead to a probable negative two-digit figure for earnings attributable to shareholders.

Please find the results for the Constantin Medien Group at a glance in the attached Pdf document .

Contact :
Constantin Medien AG
Sabine Lais
Director Communication
Tel.: +49 (0) 89 99 500-461
Fax: +49 (0) 89 99 500-466
sabine.lais@constantin-medien.de		 Frank Elsner Kommunikation für
Unternehmen GmbH
Frank Elsner
Tel.: +49 (0) 54 04 91 92 0
Fax: +49 (0) 54 04 91 92 29
info@elsner-kommunikation.de


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