Roularta becomes 100% owner of Plus Magazine and sells German children’s magazines

Regulated insider information

Embargo 2 March 2020 -  6pm

Roularta Media Group (RMG) takes over the 50% participation of the French media group Bayard Presse in Senior Publications, the publisher of the monthly Plus Magazine in Belgium. Since the start of Plus Magazine in 1986, RMG as co-founder has already held a 50% participation in Senior Publications. As a result of this transaction, RMG now becomes the sole shareholder of Senior Publications.
 
Plus Magazine is a national monthly that appeals to a wide and growing audience of people over 50. It is an inspiring magazine with 5 important pillars: health, law and finance, society, leisure and lifestyle. The magazine has been providing answers to all the questions that people over 50 have been asking for 35 years, with a focus on testimonials and solutions.

Plus Magazine has a sold circulation of 117,000 – of which 86% are subscriptions – and reaches 538,000 readers through the magazine and the digital channels (among others plus.be) (source CIM). In the most recent CIM measurement, the circulation of Plus (nl/fr) grew by 31.4%.

At the same time RMG is selling its 50% interest in the German publisher of children’s magazines Johann Michael Sailer Verlag Geschäftsführung GmbH (hereinafter Sailer), with titles such as Bimbo, Olli & Molli, Tierfreund,… to co-shareholder Bayard Presse.
 
Thanks to this transaction, RMG is strengthening its brand portfolio with Plus Magazine, a strong, national, multimedia brand with a loyal and growing community of active people 50 and older (more than 100,000 subscribers) and divesting non-core activities in Germany.
 
Roularta Media Group expects a positive impact on the EBITDA for 2020 through the purchase of 50% of Senior Publications and the sale of 50% of Sailer. Half of the net result of Sailer and Senior Publications that was included in EBITDA for this transaction is lower than 100% of the EBITDA for Senior Publications that will be consolidated in the future. Senior Publications achieved revenue and EBITDA of € 6.6 million and € 400k respectively in 2019. The intangible asset that arises from this acquisition will be depreciated in line with the other Roularta brands. The sale of Sailer will have a limited financial impact on the consolidated balance sheet because the asset was already largely written off in 2018.

 
RMG is a Belgian listed multimedia group and market leader in magazine brands (general, business and sports news, magazine brands, women’s magazine brands, lifestyle and professional, in Dutch and French), local media in Flanders (door-to-door newspapers, Sunday newspapers, lifestyle magazines, online classifieds, localised display and network events), provincial newspapers (Krant van West-Vlaanderen) and business newspapers (De Tijd, L’Echo). RMG (in a joint venture with the French Bayard group) is also a market leader in media for those over 50 in the Netherlands and Germany. With Roularta Printing Services, RMG has at its disposal Belgium’s largest offset printing company where top-quality newspapers, magazines and catalogues are made for Belgium and abroad..