(Rewrites with new details)
MILAN, March 24 (Reuters) – Mediaset ended 2014 in profit and returns after two years to distribute a small dividend to signal to investors that the worst is now behind us.
The lack of visibility on the Italian advertising market (after a first quarter still an improvement over the previous) and the uncertainty premium (which from next September with the exclusive part of the Champions League) make the group mean of estimates in 2015, for which were only confirmed the consensus of + 2/4% of the collection in Italy and a base costs stable excluding the rights of football.
Very then be played on the fate Mediaset Premium, spun off last December to let Telefonica with 11.1%. Since then, he made it clear the CFO Marco Giordani, there have been no new contacts with other potential partners to which the group is concerned. The previous contacts with other operators were closed because it pointed to an acquisition of the company, said the manager.
In 2014 the group, helped by a recovery in Spain, recorded stable revenues for 3.414 billion, although in Italy decreased to 2.483 billion in Italy from 2,588 in 2013. EBIT positive 248.8 million from 246.3 (in Italy falls to 104.4 million from 176.1 million). Net income rose to 23.7 million from 8.9 million and the dividend will be 0.02 euro per share.
“We know it is not much, but it is the sign of our confidence in the future, says that we think that the worst is now behind us,” said the CFO but warned that we must improve profitability before going back to the old days when it was distributed all over the cashflow.
Net debt was reduced to 861.3 million from 968 million at the end of September. “This is the lowest level of debt reached in the last seven years,” said the group.
Returning to advertising in Italy, after -1.3% in the fourth quarter and a difficult January,” but better than the market “, there have been signs of improvement in February and March ended flat, has stressed the general manager of Publitalia Luigi Colombo. “We expect interesting opportunities from April to August as the second and third quarter of 2014 were particularly difficult due to the absence of the World Cup,” he added, confirming the signs of + 2-4% over the year.
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