RTL Group has announced a further shake-up of its management, after reporting first-half results near the high end of its forecast for the year. The company also updated its dividend policy to pay out a higher share of profit to shareholders.
Revenues rose 4.6 percent to EUR 3.12 billion in the first half, the highest growth since 2010 and in line with its forecast for growth of 2.5-5 percent over the full year.
New COO, CFO, management committee
After Chairman Thomas Rabe took over as CEO earlier this year, RTL has promoted deputy CEO Elmar Heggen to the new role of Chief Operating Officer. In addition, Bjorn Bauer, currently Executive Vice President Corporate Controlling and Strategy at parent Bertelsmann, joins RTL as CFO and member of the Executive Committee.
RTL is also forming a new Group Management Committee (GMC) to help lead the strategy. This is composed of the members of the Executive Committee and the CEOs of the Group’s three largest business units - Bernd Reichart (CEO of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland), Nicolas de Tavernost (CEO of Groupe M6) and Jennifer Mullin (CEO of Fremantle).
In addition, the board has mandated the Executive Committee to review the role and the size of RTL Group’s Corporate Centre in Luxembourg. As part of this, the Committee will also explore whether certain corporate positions could be transferred to Cologne, where RTL's German operations are based. The review is expected to be completed by the end of September.
Digital revenues up 21%
For the first half of 2019, RTL posted total revenues up 4.2 percent to a record EUR 3.17 billion, driven by Fremantle and the digital businesses. Digital revenue grew 21 percent to EUR 513 million, driven by Fremantle, BroadbandTV, SpotX and the group’s streaming services TV Now and Videoland. The streaming VoD services in Germany and the Netherlands had 1.2 million paid subscribers at the end of the period, up 46 percent year-on-year.
EBITA fell slightly to EUR 538 million from EUR 548 million in H1 2018, as higher investments in programming and VOD services were largely compensated by significantly higher profit contributions from Fremantle and Groupe M6. RTL maintained its outlook for a 2.5-5 percent fall in EBITA over the full year due to continued investment.
Net profit for the period was significantly up, to EUR 443 million from EUR 366 million, thanks to gains from the disposal of assets. Operating cash flow rose 56.6 percent to EUR 354 million.
RTL also announced a change in its dividend policy and said it plans to pay out at least 80 percent of adjusted net profit going forward, compared to 50-75 percent previously.
