ProSieben ‘on track to hit €4bn target’

ProSiebenSat.1 has reported healthy growth in its first quarter results and told investors it is on track to hit its target of €4.2 billion in revenues (US$4.8 billion) by 2018.

The German broadcast giant said growth in TV advertising drove the quarterly results, but added that its diversification efforts are paying off, with 43% of revenues coming from outside of the TV ads business.

Quarterly revenues were €802 million, a 22% increase year-on-year. EBITDA profit was up 12% across the same period, taking the total to €170 million.

ProSieben recently instigated a wide-ranging restructure to better integrate its digital business and says non-TV sales will account for half of the total by 2018.

In the content and global sales category, ProSieben said its investments in international prodcos helped drive revenues of €63 million, a 38% uptick year on year. EBITDA profit was €5 million versus €1 million across the same period.

In the wake of the latest results, CEO Thomas Ebeling (pictured) said: “Thanks to considerably higher TV advertising revenues and the dynamically growing digital business, we are successfully pursuing our growth trajectory.

“By 2018, we want to increase revenues to €4.2 billion, which is a plus of €1.85 billion compared to 2012. We already realised almost 60 % of this target.”

The company said that revenues in its production and global sales division increased 38% in the quarter, taking the total to €63 million, with EBITDA profit of €5 million versus €1 million a year earlier.