Roularta will pay out an interim dividend of € 5 gross per share - Regulated Insider information - 09/07/2018

On 9 July 2018, the Board of Directors of the Roularta Media Group approved the distribution of an interim dividend of € 5 gross per share. This followed the capital gain that arose from the sale of the 50% stake in Medialaan at the end of January 2018, which amounts to € 145.7 million according to the IFRS figures.

At the end of the closed period pursuant to the Market Abuse Regulation, the core shareholders of Roularta will use the interim dividend to restructure the core share ownership, with Koinon Comm.VA (De Nolf family) acquiring a basket of shares from West Investment Holding (Claeys family), which will remain a shareholder with 500,000 shares.

The Roularta share will be quoted ex-dividend (ex-date) from Tuesday, 17 July 2018. The payment date for the interim dividend has been scheduled for Thursday, 19 July 2018.

The Roularta Media Group wishes to announce that initial indications for the first six months of 2018 are somewhat below expectations. In terms of advertising, we have seen a drop of 5 to 10% year-on-year, depending on the medium (local media, magazines and online). The advertising market continues to show ups and downs, and it remains difficult today to make an estimate for the year as a whole. With the magazines, the readers’ market is stable thanks to the high percentage of subscribers. The turnover of the printing business is currently slightly down on the previous year. The new print orders will start during 2019 and will ensure optimum utilisation of Roularta Printing’s presses.

Next to that  it is a real expectation that the acquisition of the Sanoma brands by the Roularta Media Group will make an immediate contribution to the Group’s EBITDA in the second half of 2018, thanks to synergies with regard to both turnover and costs. During the first six months of the year, some limited costs were recorded to make sure that the lifestyle magazines Libelle, Femmes d’Aujourd’hui, Flair and Feeling/Gaël, etc. were integrated perfectly. All the magazines’ editorial teams have now been installed in the Brussels Media Center (BMC), the editorial home of the Roularta magazine brands.

The brands Sterck and Landleven, which were acquired in 2017, are performing strongly, in line with the business plan. Mediafin, too, which became 50% owned by Roularta Media Group in March 2018 and publishes the brands De Tijd and L’Echo, has had a strong first six months of the year. For these four brands, we are looking forward to the second half of the year with optimism.