Roularta: posts loss as advertising revenues fall

(CercleFinance.com) - Roularta posted an operating loss for the first six months of the year, hit by falling advertising revenues and significant impairment.


Firs-half EBITDA was -5.3 million euros, -1.4 million euros of which was for fully consolidated activities and -3.9 million euros for joint ventures, the firm said.

The publisher and broadcasting group said revenue declined by 4.7% to 125.5 million euros, mainly due to advertising revenues (-10.9%), and print activities for third parties (-7.3%).

However, its net financial cash position improved to +169.1 million euros, compared to a net debt of 62.6 million euros on December 2017, thanks to the sale of Medialaan and the last tranche of payments for sold French activities.

In its statement, the company said insufficient visibility and high volatility of advertising revenues make it difficult to provide a forecast for the second half of 2018.

Roularta said the integration of new brands such as Libelle/Femmes d'Aujourd'hui, Flair and Feeling/GAEL should create synergies and opportunities, both in terms of advertising and readership.

Roularta shares are currently trading up 0.6% at 16.3 euros in a slightly positive Euronext Brussels market.

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