Mediaset España's EBIT grows 35.3% in the first half

The group obtained a net profit of 117.7 million euros with a 22.6% margin on net income, once again becoming the media company in Spain with the highest margins on income in EBITDA.

Mediaset España has achieved significant improvements in all its financial parameters (income, net profit and especially, operating margins) during the first half of 2016, reaching the highest values ​​since 2008.

In an environment marked by the positive trend in the television advertising market, which has registered an increase of 8.4% (Infoadex data), Mediaset España improves its market share to 43.6%, leading the advertising market in the first half.

Gross advertising revenues have reached 508.0 million, a figure that after commissions has stood at 489.1 million, 7.7% more than in the same period of the previous year. This improvement is significant since in the same period of 2015 the company obtained the income generated by the commercialization of advertising on third-party pay television channels, making a homogeneous comparison impossible.

The total net turnover of Mediaset España in this period has been 521.6 million, with a growth of 9% compared to the first half of 2015.

From the point of view of resource management, despite the broadcast of the Euro Cup, Mediaset España has kept its total operating costs substantially flat (without PPA amortization) to €367.5 million, compared to €363.6 million recorded in January-June 2015.

EBITDA and net profit

As a result of its management, Mediaset España has recorded an EBITDA of 160.0 million euros, which represents a margin on total net income of 30.7% and an increase of 40.5 million compared to the January-June 2015 period; and an EBIT operating margin of 150.1 million, that is, 39.1 million more than in the same period of 2015, with a margin on total revenues of 28.8%. Both the EBITDA and EBIT recorded in the first half of the year are the company's highest in the first six months of the year since the economic crisis and the fall of the advertising market began in mid-2008. Both margins far exceed those obtained by its main competitor, Atresmedia: 22.0% and 20.3%, respectively (including its radio business).

El beneficio neto se ha situado en 117,7 millones, un 20,3% más que el alcanzado en los seis primeros meses de 2015 (97,8 millones), casi un 40% superior al beneficio neto total de Atresmedia (84,2 millones), incluyendo su negocio de radio. Este resultado representa un margen sobre ingresos totales del 22,6% y un beneficio de 0,35 euros por acción.

Segundo trimestre

Gross advertising revenues, driven by the good evolution of the audience and the broadcast of 18 Euro Cup matches, have grown by 12.5% ​​(an increase greater than that registered by the advertising market, which has increased by 10.9%). Total net income was 290.8 million, with total operating costs of 199.6 million. EBITDA, at 89.2 million, is 22.5% higher compared to the same period in 2015, with a margin of 30.7% over total net income.

The net profit obtained between April and June 2016 stood at 67.6 million, with a margin of 23.2% on total net income, which is equivalent to a profit per share of 0.20 euros.

Líderes en audiencia

Mediaset España (30,5%) ha revalidado en el primer semestre su posición como grupo líder de audiencia en televisión, aventajando en 3,3 puntos a Atresmedia (27,4%). También ha sido primera opción en target comercial (31,9% vs. 30,4%), anotando sendas victorias en prime time (30,3% vs. 28,2%) y en day time (30,6% vs. 27%). Por perfiles, los jóvenes se erigen como el puntal de la oferta de canales del grupo, con una audiencia media del 38,2% en la franja de 13-24 años (frente a un 29,9% de Atresmedia) y del 34,3% entre los de 25 a 34 (frente al 30,6% de su competidor).

Telecinco (15.1%) is the leading network in the January-June count, repeating its best semi-annual figure achieved in 2009 and surpassing Antena 3 (13%) by 2.1 points, the greatest distance between both since 2011. It has also been a clear semiannual reference in prime time (16.2%), reaching its best semiannual record since 2009 and establishing a significant distance over Antena 3 (13.6%).

Cuatro (6.7%), the third commercial channel among viewers under 55 years of age (7.6%), has surpassed La Sexta (7.0%) in this target. It repeats its position among young people aged 13 to 34 (8.0%), only behind Telecinco and Antena 3. It has a 7.7% share in the commercial target.

The group's thematic channels have averaged an 8.7% share in the first half: Factoría de Ficción (3.1%), Divinity (2.3%), Energy (1.7%), Boing (1.4%), BeMad, a channel launched on April 22 (0.5%).
Regarding the Internet, with a monthly average of 10.7 million unique users in the first half of the year, Mediaset España served 572 million videos from January to June, according to data from Comscore.

Telecinco.es is the television website with the highest traffic with a monthly average of 8 million users.
The video platform Mitele averages 3.3 million monthly users, Cuatro.com achieves 3.1 million unique monthly users, while Divinity.es has reached an average of 1.4 million unique users per month (Comscore data corresponding to Multiplatform and Videometrix).