Bertelsmann Makes A Billion

Without counting the revenues from the sale of BMG Music Publishing and its stake in French pay-TV broadcaster TPS, Bertelsmann has made euro 1.02 billion in the first nine months of the year.

The figure would have been even higher had it not been for the one-time expense of euro 96 million for the cost of antitrust proceedings against the advertising time marketer IP Deutschland and a further settlement in connection with Napster.

"We also expect to exceed the results of fiscal 2006 in terms of revenues and operating results," commented Bertelsmann chief financial officer Thomas Rabe.

Operating EBIT rose by 4.7 percent to euro 1.02 billion (previous year: euro 982 million) from revenues of euro 13.3 billion, which is 1.2 percent up on last year.

In the third quarter, adjusted revenues were at the level of the previous year at euro 4.3 billion. Operating EBIT improved during the third quarter by 11.7 percent to euro 314 million (euro 281 million in 2006).

The Gutersloh-based media giant is also on schedule in repaying its commercial financial liabilities relating to the buying out of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, its only major shareholder outside the Mohn family, for euro 5 billion (then US$6.1 billion) in 2006.

Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s rating agencies raised the outlook for the Bertelsmann ratings to stable.