Central Media Enterprises (CME), the owner of several TV stations and new media businesses in Romania ended 2011 with a EUR 179 million loss, 53 percent higher than the year before. The fourth quarter of the year tripled the company's loss, to some EUR 77.3 million. The group's net revenues went up by 17 percent last year, to around EUR 864 million.

“In a difficult year we kept our promises: our revenues grew by 17 percent, our OIBDA increased by 56 percent and our cash flow improved by 96 percent. We outperformed the markets following successful implementation of our new business model: One Content, Multiple Distribution. We [...] reduced like-for-like costs. We have positioned the company on a strong path for growth with revenues driven not only by advertising but also by content and digital distribution. In 2012, we will focus on deleveraging, strengthening our leadership and fueling new revenue engines,” said Adrian Sarbu, president and CEO of CME (in picture).

CME's new media segment, one of the company's bets for counterbalancing the drop in traditional advertising, saw its net revenues up 40 percent last year, to some EUR 15.7 million, but the segment posted a loss of EUR 2.5 million. It was still a 60 percent improvement compared to the loss posted the year before.

CME owns several TV channels in Romania: PRO TV, PRO TV International, Acasa, PRO Cinema, Sport.ro, MTV Romania, as well as PRO TV Chisinau in the Republic of Moldova. The company also owns several websites, such as video-on-demand platform voyo.ro, news website incont.ro and the ProTV news website stirileprotv.ro, among others.

The company’s CEO is Romanian investor Adrian Sarbu, who created ProTV and sold it to CME. Sarbu’s existing personal investments in Romania include the Mediafax Group, comprising Mediafax newswire and Ziarul Financiar newspaper, among others.

editor@romania-insider.com