At EUR 54.9 million, TOMORROW FOCUS AG's consolidated revenue for the third quarter of 2014 was 8.7 percent up on the figure of EUR 50.5 million for the same period in 2013. Consolidated revenue for the first nine months rose by 8.4 percent from EUR 140.7 million in 2013 to EUR 152.5 million in the current year.* Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Group EBITDA) include income of EUR 5.3 million from the derecognition of put/call options for RPC Voyages SAS.

After adjusting for this income, Group EBITDA for the third quarter of 2014 comes to EUR 6.2 million, up 63.2 percent on the corresponding figure of EUR 3.8 million for 2013, while Group EBITDA for the first nine months of 2014 stands at EUR 15.2 million, a rise of 20.6 percent on the total for the same period in the previous year of EUR 12.6 million.

Third-quarter 2014 revenue in the Travel segmentwas 12.2 percent higher at EUR 36.7 million (third quarter 2013: EUR 32.7 million). There was an increase of 11.7 percent in the 2014 nine-month total, which rose from EUR 89.4 million in 2013 to EUR 99.9 million.

Compared with the previous year, revenue from existing HolidayCheck and Zoover customers improved by 24.6 percent in the third quarter from EUR 20.8 million in 2013 to EUR 26.0 million in 2014, and by 12.2 percent over the nine-month period from EUR 67.8 million in 2013 to EUR 76.1 million in 2014.

EBITDA in the Travel segment rose by a substantial 56.6 percent to reach EUR 6.6 million in the third quarter of 2014 compared with EUR 4.2 million in the same period of 2013. Nine-month 2014 EBITDA stood at EUR 17.0 million, 0.8 percent up on the corresponding total of EUR 16.8 million in the same period of the previous year.

These excellent results from the Travel segment are due to increases in market share at TOMORROW FOCUS AG's hotel rating and holiday booking portals HolidayCheck and Zoover.

At EUR 7.7 million, third-quarter 2014 revenue in the Publishing segment was almost unchanged on the 2013 figure of EUR 7.8 million. Segment revenue for the first nine months of 2014 was a modest 0.6 percent higher at EUR 22.2 million compared with EUR 22.0 million over the same period in 2013.

The Publishing segment's third-quarter 2014 EBITDA was down 56.2 percent at EUR 0.4 million (third quarter of 2013: EUR 1.0 million), while this year's nine-month total stood at EUR 0.6 million, 81.1 percent lower compared with the nine-month figure of EUR 2.9 million in 2013.

Overall, the company's in-house editorial portals such as FOCUS Online and The Huffington Post fulfilled expectations of growth in terms of reach, revenue and earnings. As well as significant increases in their respective market shares based on reach, they successfully established new sources of income in the fields of video advertising, transactions and native advertising. The digital marketing division, which has been hit by a stagnating display market, is currently undergoing a transformation from display marketing to an integrated digital marketing service. Based on current assessments, it will need to complete this period of transformation before it can return to the positive growth of previous years.

Revenue in the Subscription segment rose slightly by 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to reach EUR 7.9 million (third quarter of 2013: EUR 7.7 million). At EUR 23.7 million (nine months 2013: EUR 23.8 million), segment revenue for the first nine months was almost unchanged year on year.

EBITDA in the Subscription segment stood at EUR 0.3 million in the third quarter of 2014, a rise of 36.1 percent compared with the equivalent figure of EUR 0.2 million in 2013. Over the first nine months of 2014, the segment generated EBITDA totalling EUR 0.2 million (nine months 2013: minus EUR 0.8 million).

Faced with a generally stagnant yet highly competitive market environment, EliteMedianet GmbH, which operates the premium online dating agency ElitePartner, consciously accepted a small decrease in third-quarter revenue in order to boost its earnings performance compared with the same quarter of 2013.
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