UNTERFÖHRING (dpa-AFX) - The television group ProSiebenSat.1 has made a surprisingly good start to the new year thanks to a recovery in the TV advertising markets. "The advertising market recovered slightly at the beginning of the year and we increased both our TV and our digital & smart advertising revenues in the DACH region," said CFO Martin Mildner in a statement. The Group also benefited from an earlier Easter compared to the previous year. However, ProSiebenSat.1 was unable to convince its investors: The Group's share price fell slightly on Tuesday after having risen slightly the previous evening.

As the SDax-listed company announced on Monday evening in Unterfohring, revenues rose by around six percent year-on-year to EUR 867 million. This means that business developed better than analysts had expected on average. ProSiebenSat.1 benefited above all from the streaming service Joyn and the significantly smaller e-commerce segment, which grew profitably.

Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by a good third to EUR 72 million. Adjusted consolidated net profit rose to 8 million euros after a loss of 15 million euros in the same period of the previous year.

The Executive Board maintained its annual forecast of total earnings of 3.8 to 4.1 billion euros with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 525 to 625 million euros. The Executive Board intends to present the full figures on May 14.

According to the latest information, the Group has recently cut more than 500 full-time positions and reduced annual costs by 100 million euros gross. Group CEO Bert Habets also intends to continue reducing costs in the medium term and is also considering further job cuts to this end.

Meanwhile, the vote by ProSiebenSat.1 shareholders on the split of the media group into two listed companies is eagerly awaited at the Annual General Meeting on April 30. The major shareholder MediaForEurope (MFE) wants to separate the core TV and streaming business from peripheral activities such as the online perfumery Flaconi, the comparison portals Verivox and Billiger-Mietwagen.de, and the partner site ParshipMeet.

The management clearly rejected the MFE proposal. A demerger would lead the entertainment business, with the streaming service Joyn as a beacon of hope, to higher debt and significantly narrow the financial scope.

Skeptics suspected that the Italians wanted to acquire the lucrative television division faster and more cheaply without having to buy the remaining activities, which were uninteresting for them. In the past, the Milan-based company around the Berlusconi family had repeatedly demanded that ProSiebenSat.1 should sell these operations in order to create added value. MFE holds almost 30 percent of ProSiebenSat.1.

So far, the gradual sale of the additional businesses has been on the agenda. ProSiebenSat.1 CEO Habets and CFO Mildner did not want to sell the portfolio items below value under any circumstances. According to the latest information, the Executive Board intends to sell the businesses outside of TV and streaming (Joyn) in the next 12 to 18 months. The proceeds from the sale will then be used to drive forward the core business, reduce debt and pay dividends./ngu/mne/stk