Munich, Germany, 10 November 2014
At EUR 54.9 million, TOMORROW FOCUS AG’s consolidated revenue for the third quarter of 2014 was 8.7 percent up on the figure of EUR 50.5 million for the same period in 2013. Consolidated revenue for the first nine months rose by 8.4 percent from EUR 140.7 million in 2013 to EUR 152.5 million in the current year.*
This year’s third-quarter and nine-month figures for Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Group EBITDA) include income of EUR 5.3 million from the derecognition of put/call options for RPC Voyages SAS.
After adjusting for this income, Group EBITDA for the third quarter of 2014 comes to EUR 6.2 million, up 63.2 percent on the corresponding figure of EUR 3.8 million for 2013, while Group EBITDA for the first nine months of 2014 stands at EUR 15.2 million, a rise of 20.6 percent on the total for the same period in the previous year of EUR 12.6 million.
Third-quarter 2014 revenue in the Travel segmentwas 12.2 percent higher at EUR 36.7 million (third quarter 2013: EUR 32.7 million). There was an increase of 11.7 percent in the 2014 nine-month total, which rose from EUR 89.4 million in 2013 to EUR 99.9 million.
Compared with the previous year, revenue from existing HolidayCheck and Zoover customers improved by 24.6 percent in the third quarter from EUR 20.8 million in 2013 to EUR 26.0 million in 2014, and by 12.2 percent over the nine-month period from EUR 67.8 million in 2013 to EUR 76.1 million in 2014.
EBITDA in the Travel segment rose by a substantial 56.6 percent to reach EUR 6.6 million in the third quarter of 2014 compared with EUR 4.2 million in the same period of 2013. Nine-month 2014 EBITDA stood at EUR 17.0 million, 0.8 percent up on the corresponding total of EUR 16.8 million in the same period of the previous year.
These excellent results from the Travel segment are due to increases in market share at TOMORROW FOCUS AG’s hotel rating and holiday booking portals HolidayCheck and Zoover.
At EUR 7.7 million, third-quarter 2014 revenue in the Publishing segment was almost unchanged on the 2013 figure of EUR 7.8 million. Segment revenue for the first nine months of 2014 was a modest 0.6 percent higher at EUR 22.2 million compared with EUR 22.0 million over the same period in 2013.
ThePublishing segment’s third-quarter 2014 EBITDA was down 56.2 percent at EUR 0.4 million (third quarter of 2013: EUR 1.0 million), while this year’s nine-month total stood at EUR 0.6 million, 81.1 percent lower compared with the nine-month figure of EUR 2.9 million in 2013.
Overall, the company’s in-house editorial portals such as FOCUS Online and The Huffington Post fulfilled expectations of growth in terms of reach, revenue and earnings. As well as significant increases in their respective market shares based on reach, they successfully established new sources of income in the fields of video advertising, transactions and native advertising. The digital marketing division, which has been hit by a stagnating display market, is currently undergoing a transformation from display marketing to an integrated digital marketing service. Based on current assessments, it will need to complete this period of transformation before it can return to the positive growth of previous years.
Revenue in the Subscription segment rose slightly by 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to reach EUR 7.9 million (third quarter of 2013: EUR 7.7 million). At EUR 23.7 million (nine months 2013: EUR 23.8 million), segment revenue for the first nine months was almost unchanged year on year.
EBITDA in the Subscription segment stood at EUR 0.3 million in the third quarter of 2014, a rise of 36.1 percent compared with the equivalent figure of EUR 0.2 million in 2013. Over the first nine months of 2014, the segment generated EBITDA totalling EUR 0.2 million (nine months 2013: minus EUR 0.8 million).
Faced with a generally stagnant yet highly competitive market environment, EliteMedianet GmbH, which operates the premium online dating agency ElitePartner, consciously accepted a small decrease in third-quarter revenue in order to boost its earnings performance compared with the same quarter of 2013.
jameda GmbH, which operates a physician ratings portal by the same name, achieved growth in revenue in the third quarter of 2014 in the high double digits in percentage terms and so further expanded its leading position amongst Germany’s physician search and ratings portals.
As part of the action taken to protect creditors of RPC Voyages SAS, in addition to the derecognition of put/call options, write-downs were performed due to the impairment of assets and liabilities that had been capitalised within the Group. The resulting net one-off adjustments of EUR 7.9 million before tax and EUR 8.3 million after tax affect the following earnings figures for the first nine months and the third quarter of 2014.
Group earnings before interest and taxes (Group EBIT) rose by 91.3 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to reach EUR 4.4 million compared with EUR 2.3 million in the same quarter of 2013. At EUR 9.8 million, Group EBIT for the first nine months of 2014 was 19.5 percent higher (nine months 2013: EUR 8.2 million).
Group earnings before taxes (Group EBT) in the third quarter increased by 157.1 percent, i.e. from EUR 1.4 million in the previous year to EUR 3.6 million in 2014. Over the first nine months of 2014, Group EBT was up by 65.8 percent from EUR 3.8 million in 2013 to EUR 6.3 million.
In the third quarter of 2014, Group earnings after taxes were EUR 3.0 million, equivalent to a rise of 200 percent compared with the previous year’s third quarter figure of EUR 1.0 million. Group earnings after taxes for the first nine months of 2014 were 70.0 percent higher at EUR 3.4 million (nine months 2013: EUR 2.0 million).
At EUR 0.05, Group earnings per sharefor the third quarter were up 150 percent compared with EUR 0.02 in the same quarter of 2013, while the nine-month figure showed a year-on-year improvement of 100 percent from EUR 0.03 in 2013 to EUR 0.06 in 2014.
The outlook for positive revenue development in the fourth quarter of 2014 is good. Despite a partial increase in competitive pressure, the moderate economic recovery predicted in the core sales markets of TOMORROW FOCUS AG should generate further pleasing results, especially in the Travel segment.
*Consolidated revenue for 2013 excluding income from the sale of Tomorrow Focus Technologies GmbH in that year.
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; and TOMORROW TRAVEL B.V., which operates the Dutch online travel agent TJINGO.
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; thenews portal and platform for views and blogs THE HUFFINGTON POST; the finance and stock market information portal FINANZEN100; the parent portal NETMOMS; and the meteorological arm of WEBASSETS B.V., which operates the METEOVISTA and WEERONLINE weather portals.