UNTERFÖHRING (dpa-AFX) - Media group ProSiebenSat.1 made a loss of 56 million euros in the past quarter. "As expected, the second quarter continued to be characterized by a weak TV advertising market," CEO Bert Habets said Thursday. In addition, the full consolidation of the streaming platform Joyn as well as a provision for the group restructuring including 400 job cuts weighed heavily on the quarterly result. The news went down badly on the stock market.

ProSiebenSat.1 stock lost more than six percent at times in the morning. In the early afternoon, it was still down almost four percent, making it one of the weakest stocks in the MDax, the index of mid-sized stocks. Analyst Daniel Kerven of U.S. bank JPMorgan pointed to the ongoing economic uncertainty. The Group's confirmed annual targets implied a strong recovery of the advertising market in the second half of the year. It was questionable whether this would materialize, he said.

However, the new CFO Martin Mildner considers this to be realistic. He expects "a recovery of our advertising business in the second half of the year and thus significant catch-up effects in terms of sales and earnings." The Executive Board confirmed its full-year forecast and expects sales of around 4.1 billion euros and an operating profit (adjusted Ebitda), adjusted for special effects, of around 600 million euros.

In the current third quarter, operating profit is expected to stagnate at the previous year's level. However, the last four months of the year, traditionally the strongest period for revenues and earnings in the advertising business, are decisive, ProSiebenSat.1 announced.

In the second quarter, Group revenues fell 17 percent year-on-year to EUR 868 million. "Against the backdrop of the recessionary macroeconomic environment, advertising customers continued to invest only cautiously in TV advertising, as expected." This decline was only partially offset by growth in digital advertising revenues. In addition, there was a lack of revenue from the Red Arrow Studios' U.S. production business, which was sold in 2022.

Dating & Video revenue slumped 18 percent, partly because of consumer restraint and partly because of stricter consumer protection rules affecting Parship and ElitePartner subscription models. By contrast, the online comparison portal Verivox and the online perfumery Flaconi posted gains.

ProSiebenSat.1 reported that the Group's result "declined primarily due to the lower profitability of the advertising business". Adjusted operating profit halved to EUR 79 million, and after taxes there was a loss of EUR 56 million. The restructuring provision of 58 million euros contributed significantly to this. Following the acquisition of Joyn, duplicated positions are now to be eliminated and costs reduced. This should help ProSiebenSat.1 invest in digitization and become more profitable again in the long term./rol/ngu/stw/jha/