Munich, Germany, 20 March 2014 – At EUR 188.6 million, a new record in the company’s history, consolidated revenue at TOMORROW FOCUS AG in financial 2013 was 26.5 percent up on the previous year’s figure of EUR 149.1 million.
Revenue in the Transactions segment rose by an impressive 33.8 percent from EUR 109.3 million in 2012 to EUR 146.2 million in 2013.
This was partly due to a good performance from HolidayCheck AG, which recorded a double-digit increase in percentage terms.
Results at the French subsidiary RPC Voyages SAS showed an overall improvement. Revenue from its virtual package tour operations rose from EUR 1.8 million in 2012 to EUR 21.6 million in 2013. At the same time, however, revenue from sales of traditional package tours offered by other companies was below expectations.
Although the prevailing economic climate in the Netherlands was unfavourable, the Dutch travel companies Webassets B.V. and Tomorrow Travel B.V. were able to maintain their market share and revenue.
EliteMedianet GmbH, which operates the premium online dating agency ElitePartner, successfully defended its position in the market and was able to maintain its revenue level despite the stagnant market environment.
By contrast, 2013 was a highly successful year at jameda GmbH, which operates a physician ratings portal by the same name. In percentage terms, growth in revenue for the year as a whole was in the high double digits.
Advertising segment revenue stood at EUR 29.7 million, an improvement of 8.9 percent on the figure of 27.3 million in 2012.
Despite losing a number of marketing customers at the end of financial 2012, the Group’s ad network TOMORROW FOCUS Media generated a slight increase in revenue.
The Group’s news portal FOCUS Online achieved double-digit percentage increases in its reach and revenue figures. The launch of The Huffington Post Germany, a news portal and platform for views and blogs, was also highly successful.
There were further double-digit percentage increases in financial 2013 at the parent portal NetMoms GmbH and the finance and stock market information portal Finanzen100 GmbH.
At EUR 12.7 million, revenue in the Technologies segment was up 1.5 percent on the 2012 figure of EUR 12.5 million.
In order to provide a more accurate comparison, the earnings figures for financial 2012 and 2013 have been adjusted to exclude the following exceptional non-operating item:
Under IFRS rules, amortisation and depreciation on the assets identified during purchase price allocation following the 2012 and 2013 corporate takeovers of RPC Voyages SAS, Webassets B.V., Tomorrow Travel. B.V. and Netmoms GmbH came to EUR 1.8 million in 2013 (2012: EUR 1.0 million).
Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Group EBITDA) rose by 59.9 percent to EUR 38.0 million in the financial year 2013 (2012: EUR 23.8 million).
Adjusted Group earnings before interest and taxes (Group EBIT) stood at EUR 22.7 million for the financial year 2013 compared with EUR 17.7 million in the previous year. This is equivalent to a rise of 27.8 percent.
Adjusted Group earnings before taxes (Group EBT) for the financial year 2013 were 28.4 percent higher at EUR 17.4 million compared with EUR 13.5 million in 2012.
Adjusted Group earnings after taxes for the financial year 2013 were EUR 13.7 million, up 9.6 percent on the previous year’s figure of EUR 12.5 million.
Adjusted consolidated earnings per share for the financial year 2013 were EUR 0.24, up from the figure of EUR 0.22 in the previous year.
Financial 2012 and 2013 were marked by four acquisitions and three corporate/brand disposals. The consolidation of these newly acquired companies and the deconsolidation of the companies and brands sold by the Group had a substantial impact on the balance sheet. After adjusting for these changes, Group EBITDA from operating activities in 2012 stood at EUR 19.8 million and in financial 2013 at EUR 19.5 million. On this basis, the Management Board expects growth in revenue and earnings for the financial year of 2014 to reach low double figures in percentage terms.
Important note
Retrospective modification of accounting treatment of corporate acquisitions in 2012.
In January 2013, the IFRS Interpretations Committee issued an agenda decision to clarify the application of IFRS 3.B55 with regard to the accounting treatment of business combinations. Accordingly, TOMORROW FOCUS AG has now made a retrospective correction in line with IAS 8.41 and amended the accounting treatment of the corporate acquisitions made in 2012 with retrospective effect. The corresponding modifications are reflected in the consolidated financial statements as at 31 December 2013. Specifically, adjustments were made to the initial valuations for 2012 and the resulting balance sheet figures as at 31 December 2013.
Owing to the modifications made necessary by the change in accounting rules, among other things, Group earnings after tax in financial 2012 were reduced by EUR 3.2 million, while Group earnings after tax in financial 2013 were EUR 3.1 million higher due to this change in accounting rules.
The German-language version of the annual report of the TOMORROW FOCUS Group for the financial year 2013 will be published on 31 March 2014 on the company’s website at www.tomorrow-focus.de. The English-language version of the report will be available some days later.
The earnings figures for 2013 and 2012 include a number of other exceptional items for which no adjustments have been made.
Following the corporate takeovers in 2012, the compounding of future put/call obligations amounted to EUR 2.6 million in financial 2013 (2012: EUR 1.3 million). At the same time, earnings in financial 2013 were boosted by other income totalling EUR 16.1 million from the revaluation of earn-out and put/call obligations towards the minority shareholders of Webassets B.V. and RPC Voyages SAS.
Owing to the difficult economic situation in the Netherlands and the resulting need to revise growth forecasts for the next few years, goodwill at Tomorrow Travel B.V. was written down by EUR 1.7 million (2012: EUR 0.0 million). Goodwill at RPC Voyages SAS was written down by EUR 6.2 million (2012: EUR 0.0 million) due to the difficult market environment in France and the requirement to change growth forecasts for the next few years.
The complete disposal of Tomorrow Focus Technologies GmbH in 2013 generated a profit of EUR 2.6 million.
In financial 2012, The Group sold the digital rights of use to its brands TV Spielfilm, Fit for Fun and Cinema. This generated non-recurring income of EUR 5.1 million. The disposal of the at-equity stake in Adjug Ltd in 2012 generated a loss of EUR 2.0 million.
About TOMORROW FOCUS AG
TOMORROW FOCUS AG (ISIN DE005495329) is based in Munich, Germany, and is one of the leading exchange-listed Internet groups in Germany. The Group has a workforce of around 750. On 1 January 2014, its business operations were restructured into three new segments: Travel, Publishing and Subscription.
The Travel segment includes HOLIDAYCHECK AG, which operates a number of hotel review and travel booking portals by the same name; the travel division of WEBASSETS B.V., which operates the ZOOVER hotel review portals; TOMORROW TRAVEL B.V., which operates the Dutch online travel agent TJINGO; and RPC VOYAGES SAS, which operates the French online travel agent ECOTOUR.
The Subscription segment is made up of ELITEMEDIANET GmbH, which operates the premium online dating agency ELITEPARTNER.de; JAMEDA GmbH, which operates the physician ratings portal JAMEDA.de; and ORGANIZE.ME GmbH, which operates an app-based document organisation and reminder system.
The Publishing segment includes TOMORROW FOCUS MEDIA GmbH, one of Germany’s leading digital marketing providers; TOMORROW FOCUS PUBLISHING GmbH, which operates a number of Internet portals such as the news and utility journalism site FOCUS Online; the news portal and platform for views and blogs THE HUFFINGTON POST; the finance and stock market information portal FINANZEN100; the parent portal NETMOMS GmbH; and the meteorological arm of WEBASSETS B.V., which operates the METEOVISTA and WEERONLINE weather portals.