News

• Consolidated revenue up 14.6% in Q3
• Operational EBITDA soars 24.9% in first nine months

Ströer Out-of-Home Media AG, Cologne (Ströer), one of Europe’s leading providers of out-of-home advertising, published its preliminary figures for the third quarter of 2010 today and confirmed its outlook for the year as a whole.

The Group’s revenue increased by 14.6% to EUR 126.9m in the third quarter and was up 12.2% to EUR 369.1m in the first nine months of the fiscal year.  This represents organic revenue growth of 9.9% for the first three quarters of 2010. If the Turkish joint venture Ströer Kentvizyon had been fully consolidated in 2009, organic revenue growth would have amounted to 11.8% for the first nine months of the fiscal year and 11.4% for the third quarter.  

The strong year-on-year increase in marketing activities led to significant earnings growth. The Group’s operational EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization adjusted for exceptional items) rose over-proportionally, climbing 24.9% to EUR 74.8m (prior year: EUR 59.9m). In the third quarter, operational EBITDA came to EUR 22.4m (prior year: EUR 19.7m). 

The consolidated figures for the third quarter reflect the increase in our stake in the Turkish entity Ströer Kentvizyon from 50% to 90% on 2 September 2010. The Turkish operations have since been included in full in the consolidated financial statements of the Ströer Group. The acquisition of News Outdoor Poland was completed on 29 October 2010 and will therefore be reflected in the figures of the fourth quarter 2010. 

The Group’s net debt fell significantly as of 30 September 2010, down 39.2% to EUR 301.4m (31 December 2009: EUR 495.4m). This includes the net proceeds from the IPO and the cost of acquiring the additional equity interest in the Turkish entity. 

Business segments 

The Ströer Group’s preliminary consolidated financial statements indicate that revenue in the third quarter of 2010 is up on the prior-year period for all three segments (Germany, Turkey and Other). The largest segment, Ströer Germany, saw its revenue increase 5.9% to EUR 98.1m (Q3 2009: EUR 92.7m). Operational EBITDA climbed 10.4% to EUR 20.8m (Q3 2009: EUR 18.8m). Due to high sales growth and the increase in our stake, the Ströer Turkey segment even reported revenue growth of over 100% and saw its revenue rise to EUR 16.5m (Q3 2009: EUR 8.0m). Operational EBITDA rose 39.3% to EUR 2.7m in the third quarter (Q3 2009: EUR 1.9m). In the “Other” segment, which comprises our Polish activities and the global giant poster business of the blowUP division, revenue increased 23.0% to EUR 12.3m (Q3 2009: EUR 10.0m). Operational EBITDA in this segment was up 9.5% from EUR 0.6m to EUR 0.7m.

Outlook

In the traditionally strong fourth quarter, Ströer is looking to repeat the sales successes achieved in the year to date despite relatively high prior-year figures. Overall, management is optimistic going into the fourth quarter and, based on the assumption that the Turkish joint venture Stöer Kentvizyon had been fully consolidated since 2009, still anticipates high single-digit organic growth for the whole of 2010.The final figures for the third quarter will be published on 30 November 2010. For more information on the telephone conference scheduled for the press and analysts, please visit www.stroeer.com.