Mecom's profits down as Danish newspaper competition heats up
By Leah McBride Mensching, Wednesday 20 August 2008 at 19:23 :: Competition :: #2137 :: rss
Northern European newspaper group Mecom is seeing a 63 percent plunge in operating profits, due mostly to Denmark's highly competitive newspaper market, the Times Online reported Wednesday.
The group's income in the first half of the year dropped by £5 million (€6.33 million) to £3 million (€3.8 million), on advertising down 13 percent.
The four-way battle between free newspapers in Denmark is “unsustainable,” stated Mecom, the largest newspaper publisher in the country, with a 35 percent market share. Denmark is Mecom's second-largest market, after the Netherlands. Mecom also owns newspapers in Germany, Norway and Poland, the Times Online reported.
Some analysts have cut their earnings forecasts for Mecom due to “worries about the faltering European economy, the impact of rising inflation and the (freesheet) battle in Denmark,” according to the Times Online. The broker Cazenove decreased its earnings target for Mecom by 8 percent for 2008, and by 7 percent for 2009.
Sales were up slightly, at £770 million (€974.3 million), but operating profit was down 3 percent to £64 million (€80.9 million), after adjustments for acquisition-related depreciation and before exceptional items, the Times Online reported.
Comments
No comment.
Post comment