APN News & Media – 2013 Full year results

February 19, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

APN News & Media Ltd (APN), in which Independent News & Media PLC has a 28.95% shareholding, has released its results for the twelve months ending 31 December 2013. Net profit after tax before exceptional items was $59.5m, up 10% on the prior corresponding period. EBITDA from continuing operations and before exceptional items was up 8% to $162.8m, with revenue from continuing operations down $5.8m to $817.2m.

APN Chief Executive Officer, Michael Miller said: “These are APN’s best results in a number of years with Net profit after tax and EBITDA growth at their highest level since 2007 and 2005 respectively. The results reflect strong earnings growth in our radio businesses as they increased market share, a record result at Adshel, an improved second half performance from our publishing businesses as cost saving benefits start to flow through and the impact of the sale of a number of non-core businesses.”

APN’s ongoing focus on cost reductions and generating cash, as well as the contribution from a number of small asset sales, resulted in $63m in net cash inflows during the period. This cash inflow was considerably ahead of the $40m to $50m target set at the beginning of the year. Overall net debt as at 31 December 2013 was $436.9m.

APN FINANCIAL RESULT 2013

12 months to 31 December (AUD million) 2013 2012**
Revenue from continuing operations 817.2 823.0
EBITDA* 162.8 151.4
EBIT* 129.8 120.7
Net profit after tax* 59.3 49.6
Profit/loss from discontinued operations 0.3 4.7
Net profit after tax before exceptional items 59.5 54.3
Exceptional items (56.9) (561.7)
Statutory net profit/(loss) after tax 2.6 (507.4)
*From continuing operations and before exceptional items    
**2012 exceptional items and statutory net loss restated for error in relation to impairment charge

The company is not paying a final dividend for the 2013 financial year.

APN has made progress in its efforts to streamline operations and position the Company for future growth. The sale of APN Outdoor to Quadrant Private Equity for $69m and the sale of e-commerce business brandsExclusive for $2m in cash and 8% of the equity in buyer Aussie Commerce Group were completed in January and February of this year. The sale of APN’s wholly-owned New Zealand magazine titles to Bauer Media Group has received clearance from the New Zealand Commerce Commission and is expected to complete in March. During the first half of 2013, the Company sold its Wellington, Christchurch and Oamaru newspapers in line with its focus on North Island publications. APN also moved to full ownership of performance marketing business iNC Digital Media in October.

APN also announced the acquisition of the remaining 50% of Australian Radio Network and The Radio Network from its US joint venture partner Clear Channel Communications Inc. This  gives APN greater control of cash flows, which will be used to strengthen the Company’s balance sheet.

The full announcement is available here.

Ireland Dublin & UK, London

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dmg events acquires specialist exhibitions and publications business Quartz Coatings

February 3, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

dmgeventsdmg events, DMGT’s international exhibition and publishing company, has acquired specialist exhibitions and publications business Quartz Coatings Ltd. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal gives dmg events a significant share of the global paint and coatings exhibitions market. Its Middle East Coatings Show is already managed by Quartz Coatings, while the company itself organises a further five events in South East Asia, Central America and North Africa. It also publishes two of the industry’s leading titles.

Commenting on the acquisition, Geoff Dickinson, CEO of dmg events, said, “The coatings sector is a fast growing specialist market that complements our Big 5 construction events.

It allows us to develop our existing Middle East Coatings Show and is in line with our desire to build our presence in the South East Asia and Latin America through geo-cloning and strategic acquisitions.

I am excited to be working with Ian Faux, Vice President of Quartz Coatings and his team and look forward to developing our Coatings portfolio and associated activities in the coming years”.

UK, London and Surrey, Redhill

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Investment consortium acquires Boat International Media

January 31, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

An investment consortium led by Pembroke VCT plc, with support from Lepe Capital, has acquired Boat International Media. Reports say, Pembroke have paid £10 million.

boat international

Pembroke is a venture capital trust, which specialises in investing in high growth consumer-facing businesses. Lepe Capital is a growth capital investor that specialises in digital media. The consortium also includes several other private investors including Charles Dunstone and Tara Getty.

Boat International Media provides information and services across traditional print, digital media and organises eight annual events in Amsterdam, Kitzbühel, Monaco, Fort Lauderdale, Porto Cervo, and Virgin Gorda. It also owns a database of superyachts, as well as a social and business networking tool for superyacht captains and crew.

Andrew Wolfson, CEO of Pembroke, commented: “Boat International Media is the leading player in the superyacht industry with an unrivalled reputation amongst yacht owners, brokers and service companies alike. The company has achieved impressive growth in sales despite the economic downturn and profitability and momentum continues. We look forward to working with the experienced management team and supporting their strategic plan to further develop Boat International’s print media platforms as well as accelerate the transition to digital.”

Tony Harris, CEO of Boat International Media, commented: “We are delighted to be partnering with this group of investors. The team’s entrepreneurial operational focus and market knowledge will enable us to further cement Boat International’s position as the world’s leading media group serving the superyacht community.”

UK, Wimbledon, Surrey

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Lagardère receives three bids for magazines

January 23, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

lagardereAccording to French newspaper Le Figaro, French media group Lagardère has received three preliminary offers for the magazines it has put up for sale and expects firm offers by Feb. 15. These were from Be magazine founder Didier Quillot, Marc Laufer of NewsCo and Pascale Chevalier of ReWorld Media.

In total, 25 offers have been received, but only five of these were for all of the publications.

In October last year Lagardère said it planned to sell 10 magazine titles, including Premiere, Psychologies and Be. The 1o magazine have a combined annual turnover of about €50 million and make a loss of between €1.5 and €2 million.

Le Figaro said another reason the price tag was likely to be small was because Lagardère would finance departures as part of a law in France that allows journalists to resign with compensation when the ownership of their publication changes. This could cost between €5 and €7 million.

Le Figaro report – Lagardère: trois offres crédibles pour le rachat de ses magazines.

France, Paris

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Motor Presse Stuttgart makes three acquisitions in Germany and Poland

January 23, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

motorpresseMotor Presse Stuttgart has made three acquisitions in Germany and Poland. They are caraworld.de, a marketplace for new and used caravans and campers: a majority holding in the television company Motor Presse TV: and content-based Web site MojeAuto.pl.

“These acquisitions have the goal of accelerating the digital transformation of Motor Presse Stuttgart in Germany and abroad and driving the development of strong print-digital brands”, said Dr. Volker Breid, Managing Director at Motor Presse Stuttgart. The terms of the deals were not disclosed.

caraworld.de

caraworld.de, is Germany’s largest marketplace for new and used caravans and campers. The portal is aligned towards commercial traders as well as private buyers and vendors. caraworld.de offers more than 15,000 new and used vehicles and generates more than three million hits with around 40 million page impressions a year.

Motor Presse TV

Motor Presse Stuttgart is acquiring TV entrepreneur Jörg Schütter’s 41 per cent of shares in the Motor Presse TV company giving it a 51% majority stake in the joint-venture established in 2009. Jörg Schütte will retain a 49% holding in Motor Presse TV and will manage the company alongside Norbert Lehmann, Chief Financial Officer at Motor Presse Stuttgart. Motor Presse TV operates the pay TV auto motor und sport Channel which reaches around 900,000 subscriber households in German-language cable and IP TV networks. Acquisition of the majority holding by Motor Presse Stuttgart is subject to approval by the media supervisory authorities.

MojeAuto.pl

Motor Presse Polen is acquiring MojeAuto.pl from the Allegro Group. MojeAuto.pl was established by Automotive Internet Services S.A. in 2000 and acquired by the Allegro Group in 2010. The Web site currently employs 25 people and is based in Wroclaw which is also home to Motor Presse Polen. The Web site offers news, photo galleries and videos, tests and product ratings, marketplaces for new and used vehicles, tyres and wheel rims as well as accessories and financial services.

Germany, Stuttgart & Poland, Wroclaw

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Quercus Publishing puts itself up for sale.

January 23, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

quercusQuercus Publishing PLC, the publisher of the Stieg Larsson’s award-winning Millennium Trilogy, has formally put itself up for sale.

The announcement said, “Further to the Company’s interim trading statement, released on 17 January 2014, the Board of Quercus has decided that it would be in the best interests of the Company’s shareholders to seek potential offerors by means of a formal sale process. In accordance with Note 2 to Rule 2.6 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (“Takeover Code”), the Board of Quercus therefore announces that it is conducting a formal sale process. The Board continues to have constructive dialogue with its bankers, Barclays.

In its interim statement, the company said, “the UK book trade has continued to be challenging. The bulk of our profits are usually generated in the final quarter of the year. However, sales in the final quarter were lower than expected, due in part to continuing issues within the book trade which led retailers to adopt very conservative ordering policies and a lower than expected upturn in digital sales over the Christmas period to the end of the year. As a result, the Directors expect the Company to make a significant trading loss for the financial year.“

Mark Smith told The Bookseller: “We’ve been considering for some months how best to take the business forward for the long term in light of the fundamental changes which are taking place in our core UK marketplace. We now feel that the skills and experience of Quercus’ team will flourish best within a larger organisation and so we’ve decided to put the company up for sale. In the meantime it’s business as usual at Baker Street.” The company said its board “continued to have constructive dialogue” with its bankers, Barclays.

UK, London

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Guardian to sell its stake in Auto Trader for upto £700M

January 23, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

AutotraderGuardian Media Group is selling its 50.1% stake in Auto Trader owner Trader Media Group to private equity firm Apax Partners in a deal thought to be worth £600m to £700m to the Guardian publisher.

The sale to Apax, which bought 49.9% of Trader Media Group in 2007 and has been GMG’s joint venture partner in the business since then, is thought to give TMG an enterprise value of about £1.8bn. The exact financial details of the deal were not revealed.

GMG’s sale of the TMG stake is subject to reguatory approval and final completion.

Andrew Miller, the chief executive of GMG, said: “This proposed transaction makes strategic sense as we focus GMG’s activities on award-winning digital and print journalism. On completion, the sale proceeds will strengthen our balance sheet and position us for further investment and growth in our core business.”

Neil Berkett, the chair of the GMG board, said: “Once completed, this deal will make GMG a very well-capitalised media organisation with the financial flexibility to navigate the rapidly-changing media environment, where our flagship titles are proven pioneers of digital and print innovation.”

The Scott Trust, sole shareholder in GMG, has given its approval for the proposed sale and authorised the company board to reinvest the proceeds to enable it to continue to safeguard the Guardian’s editorial and financial independence.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised GMG on the deal.

UK, London

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The Gores Group acquires Zmags

January 23, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

The Gores Group, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, has acquired Zmags Corp. through its Small Capitalization Partners investment fund. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Boston, MA, Zmags is a provider of digital publishing and eCommerce Software-as-a-Service solutions with additional offices in Copenhagen, Denmark and London. The company’s self-service platform works across all digital media including tablet, mobile, social and web channels.

“Digital experiences are rapidly evolving and The Gores Group is very excited to add a well-respected company at the forefront of that change in Zmags,” said Victor C. Otley, Managing Director for The Gores Group. “Zmags adds a unique platform for growth to our portfolio and we look forward to partnering with management and employees to continue to build on its success and enable them to better serve their customers.”

USA, Los Angeles, CA & Boston, MA

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Sway Group acquires Massive Sway, SITS Girls, and Bloggy Boot Camp Conferences

January 19, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

swaygroup_logoSway Group, a management agency for bloggers, has acquired Massive Sway, SITS Girls, and the Bloggy Boot Camp conference series. The terms of the deals were not announced.

Massive Sway is a 50,000-strong network of diverse female publishers. SITS Girls is a blogging community. Bloggy Boot Camp is a conference series for women in social media.

“Since 2011, our company has grown from a three-person startup to a company of 15 full-time employees,” said Danielle Wiley, CEO of Sway Group. “Bringing Massive Sway, SITS Girls, and the Bloggy Boot Camp conferences under the Sway Group umbrella, along with its founders Tiffany Romero and Francesca Banducci, is incredibly exciting, because these fast-growing communities of talented publishers allow us to create a truly amazing variety of programs. Now we can offer brands and agencies an even broader scale of services and targeting capabilities, including the ability to drill down by region, demographic, content vertical, and social network.”

USA, Chicago, IL

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News Corp acquires Irish social news agency Storyful

January 4, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

newscorpRupert Murdoch’s media company News Corp has acquired Storyful, a Dublin-based start-up social news agency, for €18 million.

Storyful discovers, verifies, acquires and distributes timely and relevant video and user-generated content to its partners.  With its combination of proprietary technology and journalistic expertise, Storyful also provides social media dashboards, real-time discovery tools, feeds and analytics to its customers, allowing them to integrate video into their news or advertising efforts via online and mobile platforms and to monitor social conversations and sentiment. So far in 2013, verified user-generated videos managed by Storyful generated 750 million views for its partners.

“Storyful has become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content,” said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. “Through this acquisition, we can extend the village square across borders, languages and platforms.”

Storyful’s management team of Chief Executive Officer Mark Little and Executive Editor David Clinch will continue to oversee the company’s operations. Rahul Chopra, Senior Vice President of Video for News Corp, will join the Storyful management team, taking on the additional role of Chief Revenue Officer. Mr. Little will report to David Brinker, News Corp Senior Vice President and Global Head of Business & Corporate Development.

Storyful remains headquartered in Dublin, where the company was founded in 2010. Additional business development and advertising sales staff will be hired and based in New York. The business will operate as a stand-alone business unit within News Corp and continue to work with its existing roster of global customers, which includes The Wall Street Journal.

USA, New York, NY & Ireland, Dublin

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