Overall Assessment of the Business Performance – Management View

For ProSiebenSat.1 Group, 2015 marked another year of profitable and capital-efficient growth in which we achieved or even exceeded our targets. But 2015 was a successful year not only in terms of growth figures. We also performed well financially, successfully continued our investment strategy and remained within the target range for the leverage ratio. We simultaneously used the favorable capital market conditions and further optimized our Group financing. At the time the Group Management Report was compiled, ProSiebenSat.1 Group was characterized by overall very good earnings, financial position and performance.

The German economy grew again in 2015; this encouraged our advertising customers to invest. At the same time, the market data for our digital portfolio were very positive: The in-stream advertising, video-on-demand and digital commerce industries grew dynamically. In this market environment, the Group closed 2015 again with record figures for revenues and operating earnings. All segments contributed to this:

Our TV business is highly profitable, it delivers continuous and solid growth. In 2015, we achieved the highest audience share for ten years. In the advertising market, we grew stronger than the rest of the field and benefited from continuing structural change in addition to the economic environment: Many print customers are moving their advertising budgets to television. In addition, growth was driven by our newer stations sixx, SAT.1 Gold and ProSieben MAXX.

In the Digital & Adjacent segment, we also closed the year with record revenues. The segment again develops very profitably with a margin of around 20 %. We are also successful in the program production and distribution business: Red Arrow is growing dynamically and has continued to expand its portfolio strategically in the US.

Our Group’s growth was largely organic; at the same time, we made important acquisitions that further accelerate our profitable growth. For example, we acquired a majority in Verivox, Germany’s leading independent consumer energy portal, and strengthened our travel portfolio with the international air travel portal etraveli. This positive annual record and the good start into financial year 2016 confirm our strategy: We are continuing to develop ProSiebenSat.1 from a traditional TV provider into a broadcasting, digital entertainment and commerce powerhouse.