European broadcast giant RTL has reported a 2 per cent decline in Q2 sales due to lower revenues at production unit FremantleMedia and competition for advertising revenue from the UEFA European football championship.

The Bertelsmann-owned company said it expected revenues to recover in the second half, and raised its full-year profit forecast and promised an interim dividend.

RTL said it now expected growth of 1 to 2.5 per cent in 2016 earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) instead of broadly stable EBITA, and confirmed it expected revenue growth of 2.5 to 5 per cent.

EBITA grew 3 per cent in the quarter to €351 million, driven by French broadcaster M6 and RTL Germany.

“You can’t look at the production business on a quarterly basis simply because of the nature of the business,” co-Chief Executive Guillaume de Posch said in an interview with Reuters, pointing out the uneven occurrence of large contracts.

He added the financial impact of a deal announced with Amazon to show American Gods on Amazon Prime – part of a burgeoning business with OTT players – would first be felt in 2017.

Other posts by :

1. Human AI; Access, Influence
2. Who else was eyeing Globalstar?
3. Analyst: Unrealistic expectations at SpaceX
4. Rocket Lab: “We will out-innovate SpaceX”
5. S&P ranks Arqiva’s debt as BBB+
6. AST SpaceMobile to make D2C progress this winter
7. EchoStar to put Hughes Network into bankruptcy
8. FCC explains C-band incentives
9. Analyst: Deep dive on Starlink’s prospects

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Business, Results