Media group CME’s operations in Romania post significant growth

Romania was one of the best performing markets for media and entertainment group Central European Media Enterprises (CME), posting a 21 percent increase in net revenues over the three months ended June 30, 2014, and a 56 percent growth in operational profit. CME owns and runs several TV stations in Romania, including ProTV and MTV Romania. The operations in Romania generated sales of USD 62.9 million in the second quarter of the year, compared to USD 52 million in the same period of 2013, and an operational profit (OIBDA) of USD 12.58 million (USD 8.08 mln in Q2 2013), according to CME’s half year report. In the first half of 2014, net revenues made by CME in Romania were up 20 percent, to USD 110.7 million, which is almost a third of the group’s total revenues. OIBDA in Romania almost doubled to USD 18 million. Romania is the largest market for CME in terms of revenues, but the second in terms of operational profit, after Czech Republic. CME posted net revenues of USD 356 million in the first six months of the year, 16 percent higher than in H1 2014. The group returned to operational profit, but posted a net loss of USD 100 million, due to high financial costs related to interest and debt repayments. The group operates on six markets in the region: Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia. In Romania, CME owns PRO TV, PRO TV International, Acasa, Acasa Gold, PRO Cinema, Sport.ro and MTV Romania TV stations, plus PRO TV Chisinau and Acasa in Moldova. CME named Lithuanian Aleksandras Cesnavicius as CEO of its Romanian operations, at the end of 2013. PRO TV, which is still the leader of the Romanian TV market in terms of audiences, went through significant restructuring this year, discontinuing some of its popular shows and giving up on contracts with some of its celebrities, who went to competitors. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com (Photo source: ICEEFest)