By Isabel Demetz and Klaus Lauer
(Reuters) -German media company ProSiebenSat.1 said on Thursday that customers’ lower spending on TV advertisements dented its annual results for a third consecutive year in 2024.
It reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 557 million euros ($601.8 million) for the year, down 3.6% from the 578 million euros in 2023.
The decline was mainly caused by weaker investments by TV advertising customers, as those correlate to lesser private consumption in a challenging economic environment, it said.
Adjusted EBITDA in the Entertainment segment fell 12% to 416 million euros in 2024, with the biggest hit to the TV advertising business coming in the final quarter of the year, it added.
“We expect TV advertising sales to continue to fall slightly, particularly in the first half of the year,” its CEO Bert Habets said in a statement about 2025.
The media group also said it planned to achieve gross savings of around 80 million euros this year and more than 100 million euros starting from 2026.
ProSiebenSat.1 had in February said it was planning an additional savings programme, including potential job cuts, after already cutting 400 positions in 2023.
The group’s management also came under pressure last year to sell its non-broadcasting business, in a campaign led by its top two shareholders, MFE-MediaForEurope and Czech investment group PPF.
Late on Wednesday, it said it was in talks with General Atlantic (GA) over a potential acquisition of GA’s minority stakes in ProSieben’s internet holding NuCom Group — excluding price comparison website Verivox and perfume e-retailer Flaconi — and its online dating platform ParshipMeet Group.
That would make ProSiebenSat.1 the only owner of NuCom and ParshipMeet, while it seeks third party buyers for Verivox and Flaconi.
If a deal is reached, GA will be paid either through a convertible bond or ProSiebenSat.1 shares, it said.
($1 = 0.9256 euros)
(Reporting by Isabel Demetz, Bernadette Hogg and Klaus Lauer; Editing by Milla Nissi)
