Würzburg, May 17, 2005
The Vogel Medien Group, Würzburg, closed the 2004 financial year with increased total sales of EUR 363 million and a simultaneous considerable improvement in the economic result of EUR 10 million.
"Despite the persistently difficult economic situation, changing markets due to globalization and a profound structural change in the publishing industry, both pillars of the Group were able to continue their positive economic development last year and further expand their position in the market. Vogel Business Medien alone improved its result by 6 million euros," says Claus Wüstenhagen, CEO of Vogel Business Medien. "We are also pleased with the consistency with which our strategy of concentrating on expanding the specialist media business through innovations from our own resources and initial acquisitions of suitable titles to round off our portfolio has been tackled. We will continue this expansion in 2005 with regard to publishing activities and personnel development."
Vogel Industrie Medien (including MM MaschinenMarkt, PROCESS, elektronikpraxis, elektrotechnik automation) was largely able to compensate for the industry-typical declines in its traditional business by tapping into alternative sources of revenue. Special publications such as the trade fair newspaper Messe Daily of MM Maschinenmarkt in cooperation with Hannover Messe and Metav, as well as the expansion of seminars and events such as the Würzburg Advertising Talks, were realized very successfully from the outset and have further considerable potential for 2005. In 2004, this development was also reflected in a significant improvement in earnings of EUR 2.5 million.
Vogel Auto Medien, which publishes the titles kfz-betrieb, Automobil Industrie, autofachmann and autokaufmann, among others, proved to be a stable source of income and maintained its high profitability despite stagnating or shrinking markets. With Bike und Business and Mobility & Business, two new titles were also launched on the market, which are aimed at the motorcycle trade and business travelers as target groups.
Vogel IT-Medien, Augsburg, has concentrated on the b2b segment, in which it is successful with publications such as IT-Business News and e-Government Computing. Additional sources of revenue such as the IT Business Academy with its exclusive events also developed very positively in 2004.
CyPress GmbH, Höchberg, which publishes magazines in the digital entertainment sector, increased its sales by 5.3% to over EUR 13 million and was able to further expand its market position. Individual titles achieved significant growth in paid circulation, e.g. PlayStation2 - Das offizielle Magazin + 8.1 percent; DVD VISION even increased by 19.8 percent. Advertising sales also increased by 12.7 percent compared to the previous year. At the end of the year, CyPress also moved beyond the PlayStation segment into the PC games sector for the first time, meaning that it now has a comprehensive home entertainment portfolio. The magazine PC PowerPlay sold over 130,000 magazines with its very first issue.
IWW Institut für Wirtschaftspublizistik, Nordkirchen, continued its profitable strategy of expansive growth in its core target groups in the legal/economic/tax publishing segment. With four own product innovations in the course of the year as well as the takeover of the entire publishing program of H+G Verlag and a further information service, which were transferred to the company's management on January 1, 2005, the product range was increased to 55 information services. This product range is supplemented by extremely successful practical seminars. Every year, around 4,000 participants attend some 180 practical seminars offered by the IWW throughout Germany.
Vogel Burda Holding was able to improve its overall result by 1.8 million euros. The CHIP brand strategy of Vogel Burda Communications, Munich, in 16 countries was continued and expanded. The flagship CHIP as well as CHIP Online have positioned themselves as reach winners in their segments. The line extensions CHIP test & kauf, CHIP professionell and CHIP software have quickly established themselves; CHIP Foto Video digital has immediately become the market leader.
Internationally, the Vogel Medien Group is active in over 20 countries, with a focus on Eastern Europe and the emerging markets in Asia. Already 27 percent of total sales are generated abroad. The business in China is of particular importance. Claus Wüstenhagen: " VOGEL started to build up a specialist publishing house together with a Chinese JV partner 10 years ago. Today, we already employ over 150 people in two independent companies. No other German publishing house has such well-developed structures and is so well networked. I therefore believe that this is where the greatest international development potential for our company will arise in the near future, especially as we can now systematically develop our domestic market leaders there."
Background information for the press:
The Vogel Medien Group, Würzburg, is one of the leading international media companies in the specialist publishing and special interest sector. With its industry-oriented offering, it provides decision-makers and ambitious users with information of high value. The core of its business is formed by the specialist media activities of Vogel Business Medien in the industry, automotive, computer & communications incl. home entertainment and legal/business/tax segments. Printing, media production, address management, direct marketing, sales consulting, book publishing and back-office services round off Vogel Business Medien's range of services. Another pillar of the publishing activities is Vogel Burda Holding, a joint venture with Hubert Burda Media Holding in the field of computer media in the special interest segment.
The activities of the Vogel Medien Group and its affiliated companies are concentrated in Europe and Asia. The Vogel Medien Group employs 1850 people worldwide. In Germany alone, around 1200 employees at the main sites in Würzburg and Munich develop and produce over 50 magazines with a total annual circulation of more than 20 million copies. A total of over 100 titles are published in the international network.
If you have any questions, please contact
Claus Wüstenhagen
Chairman of the Management Board
Vogel Business Media
97064 Würzburg
Phone +49 931 418-2205
Fax +49 931 418-2002
E-Mail: claus_wuestenhagen@vogel-medien.de
