Press Release: 2010 Results

MADRID, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2010 PRISA implemented much of its financial restructuring plan, with the consolidation and control of all its companies with the exception of Cuatro. Consolidated EBIT was EUR 336.15 million. After dedicating more than EUR 130 million to the restructuring of its balance sheet, the net result was -72.87 million euros. The Group ended the year having consolidated all its business areas in profit, despite the very adverse economic climate affecting the sector.

The divestment plan and the reinforcement of capital structure has seen a capital injection of nearly 2,000 million euros, which has enabled the Group to significantly reduce its debt which now stands at 4.92 times its EBITDA. PRISA now has a new Board of Directors with a majority of independent and international members. It has embarked on an ambitious plan that will facilitate its transformation into a global consumer-oriented advanced technology company and that will drive its expansion in international markets, especially in the U.S., Brazil and Mexico.

The results for the year 2010 show the steady increase in revenue from outside Spain, now approaching 30% thanks to the increase of 7.2% (+14.7% for Latin America) registered this year. This development shows the strength of PRISA in all Ibero American countries, especially in Brazil and Portugal.

Key figures by business unit *:

Audiovisual. PRISA TV reported EUR 1,372.40 million in revenues and an EBITDA of EUR 308.78 million, with an EBITDA margin of 22.5%. Media Capital invoiced 249.01 million with EBITDA at 48.04 million. Digital+ had 1,133.99 million in revenues and its EBITDA was EUR 269.37 million. The subscriber base stood at 1,784,574 subscribers as of December 2010. ARPU from satellite subscribers in the 4Q increased by 1.7% compared to the same period of the previous year to reach 41.7 euros per subscriber per month. It is worth highlighting the evolution of the added value services for DTH subscribers: as of December 2010, 305,379 subscribers had iPlus (PVR) and 165,153 subscribers had contracted the Multi+ (Multi-room) service. TVI, Media Capital's Free-to-View channel, is audience leader for sixth consecutive year in Portugal (an average audience-share figure of 34.2% for the 24-hour period and 39.2% in prime time).

Advertising. Revenues amounted to 673.70 million euros. There was significant growth in the Radio sector (+8.1%), especially in Colombia (+40.9%), Mexico (+31%) and Chile (+24.3). Press was up 4.7% in comparative terms. Sports paper AS saw revenues up by 55.9%. By geographic region, Latin America stands out with growth of 29.8%. Advertising revenues from all digital operations increased by 19.6%, especially in the press sector, which was up by 25.5%, with excellent performance by as.com (+47.3%), Elpais.com (+15.6%) and Radio 4.6%).

Publishing. Revenues for Santillana reached EUR 642.25 million (+4.1%), and increased by 12.0% in Latin America. It is worth highlighting the growth in Brazil (+38.9%), Mexico (+20.0%), Chile (+17.3%) and Argentina (+7.1%). EBITDA reached EUR 166.35 million (+9.4%), with a growth of 15.7% in Latin America.  EBITDA margins were up one percentage point, reaching 25.9%. Having made great progress in 2010, Santillana is leading the drive to incorporate new technologies in the education sector throughout Latin America and Europe.

Radio. Turnover increased by 7.5% to EUR 405.52 million and contributed with EUR 108.07 million to the EBITDA (+8.0%). International radio increased its revenues by 28.6% (advertising increased by 34.5%) and saw a 72.2% increase in EBITDA. PRISA Radio, with almost 26 million listeners, is market leader in Spain (Cadena SER has 4,247,000 listeners** and 40 Principales has 3,890,000 listeners**) in Chile (Iberoamericana has 1.931.700 listeners) and Colombia (8.873.800, thanks to the lead radio networks Caracol and Corazon).

Press. Revenues were 402.52 million euros and, in comparative terms, EBITDA increased by 11.3% to EUR 56.48 million. El Pais, with an average daily circulation of 370,080 and a lead of more than 100,000 copies over its closest competitor in December, had revenue of 275.25 million, EBITDA of EUR 38.56 million and net profit of EUR 19.20 million. Sports daily. Diario AS, with an average daily circulation of 211,553 copies**, increased its revenues by 13.4% to reach EUR 82.29 million and EBITDA by 48% to EUR 15.87 million. Cinco Dias is the only business and finance newspaper to see a growth in circulation, with an average daily circulation of 68.000 daily readers**.

PRISA significantly improved its position in its Digital area in 2010. The Group reached 51 million average monthly unique users in 2010, which means 28.8% growth compared to 2009. It is worth highlighting the increase in as.com (+38.9%), ElPais.com (+14.1%), where 30% of unique users are International, CincoDias.com (+24.0%), Los40.com (+26.3%) and Plus.es (+20.2%). Unique users for other digital projects of the group (Parasaber, Clasificados, Kalipedia, El Viajero...) increased by 62.7% and unique users for Media Capital increased by 16.2% to reach 6.52 million.

* These figures do not include Cuatro.

** 2010 3rd AGM Survey.

SOURCE PRISA