Bertelsmann reports first nine months' profit up 5.6% year-over-year to €377M; sales up 2.3% to €10.7B with increases in all divisions

Kendall Sinclair

GUTERSLOH, Germany , November 10, 2011 (press release) –

Revenues increase to €10.7 billion
Operating EBIT stable at €1.03 billion
Group profit rises to €377 million

Bertelsmann, the international media group, reports increased revenues and Group profit for the first nine months of the 2011 fiscal year. Group revenues from continuing operations for January to the end of September 2011 increased by 2.3 percent to €10.7 billion. Excluding portfolio and currency effects, organic growth came to 2.8 percent. All of the Group’s divisions contributed to this result. At €1,032 million (previous year: €1.043 million) Operating EBIT remained stable at a high level; it was impacted by start-up losses incurred as planned in the building of new businesses. Return on sales was 9.6 percent for the period (previous year: 9.9 percent).

Group profit at the end of September was €377 million, up from €357 million for the first nine months of the previous year. One major contributing factor was a substantially improved financial result, an item that was impacted by capital measures in the prior year.

Bertelsmann remains confident about the results of the full year and confirms its forecast of moderate growth in Group revenues, Operating EBIT slightly below last year’s, and a year-on-year increase in Group profit.

Overview of figures (in € millions)

	January 1, 2011 – September 30, 2011	January 1, 2010 – September 30, 2010
Consolidated revenues (from continuing operations)	10,735	10,495
Operating EBIT by division Corporate/consolidation Operating EBIT (from continuing operations)	1,131 (99) 1,032	1,118 (75) 1,043
Special items	(69)	(33)
EBIT	963	1,010
Financial result	(301)	(411)
Earnings before taxes from continuing operations	662	599
Income taxes	(180)	(186)
Earnings after taxes from continuing operations	482	413
Earnings after taxes from discontinued operations	(105)	(56)
Group profit or loss	377	357
attributable to: Earnings attributable to Bertelsmann shareholders	274	259
attributable to: Earnings attributable to non-controlling interests	103	98

Investments

593

570

	Balance as of September 30, 2011	Balance as of December 31, 2010
Net financial debt	2,242	1,913
Economic debt*	5,282	4,915
Employees (headcount) (at continuing operations)	100,232	97,528

The corresponding figures for the previous period have been adjusted in accordance with IFRS 5.

*Net financial debt plus provisions for pensions, profit participation capital and present value of operating leases (continuing operations).

About Bertelsmann AG

Bertelsmann is an international media company whose core divisions encompass television (RTL Group), book publishing (Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), and outsourcing services (Arvato) in 50 countries. In 2010, the company’s businesses, with their 100,000 employees, generated revenues of €15.8 billion. Bertelsmann stands for a distinctive combination of creativity and entrepreneurship that empowers the creation of first-rate media, communications, and service offerings to inspire people around the world and to provide innovative solutions for customers.

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