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Board
Results of Operations
Revenues
Revenues declined 5.4 percent to €15.4 billion (previous year:
€16.2 billion) due to the economic crisis and its eff ects on
the markets relevant to Bertelsmann. Organic growth was
-5.8 percent when adjusted for portfolio and exchange rate
eff ects. As a result of a stronger dollar on average during the year,
the exchange rate eff ects came to -0.6 percent, while the portfolio
eff ects and other eff ects came to 1.0 percent.
Th e trend in advertising markets was refl ected in the performance
of RTL Group, even though the division outperformed the
market in some areas. Th e decline in revenue at RTL Group to
€5.4 billion (previous year: €5.8 billion) can be attributed primarily
to Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, the British channel Five
and RTL Nederland. Th e trend of revenues at Random House
was stable compared to the previous year. Despite the depletion
of inventory in the U.S. retail book business, revenues of
€1.7 billion were in line with last year’s level (previous year:
€1.7 billion). A substantially declining advertising market as a
result of the economic crisis was responsible for Gruner + Jahr
revenues declining to €2.5 billion (previous year: €2.8 billion).
At Arvato, declining revenue in print was not fully compensated
by the services business. Declining prices and volumes
led to a drop in revenues in fi scal year 2009 from €5.0 billion to
€4.8 billion. Direct Group revenues of €1.2 billion were down
from last year (previous year: €1.4 billion).
A comprehensive cost-cutting and effi ciency program coupled
with the diversifi cation of Bertelsmann’s business in fi scal year
2009 helped mitigate the overall eff ects of the global economic
crisis.
Bertelsmann Annual Report 2009
Th ere were only minor changes in the geographical breakdown
of revenues compared to fi scal year 2008. While the share of
revenues from Germany was down slightly to 35.0 percent from
36.0 percent in the previous year, the revenues share generated
by other European countries amounted to 47.7 percent (previous
year: 48.0 percent). At the same time, the U.S. share of total
revenues rose from 11.5 percent to 12.5 percent. Th e share from
other countries was 4.8 percent (previous year: 4.5 percent). Th is
means that the proportion of total revenues attributable to countries
other than Germany rose from 64.0 percent to 65.0 percent.
Th e ratio of the four revenue sources (products and merchandise,
advertising, services, rights and licenses) remained largely balanced,
even after a change in categorization from last year.
Operating EBIT and Operating EBITDA
In fiscal year 2009, Bertelsmann generated an operating
EBIT of €1,424 million (previous year: €1,575 million). Th e
return on sales of 9.3 percent was below the previous year
fi gure of 9.7 percent. All divisions except Random House reported
declines in the operating EBIT due to the economic
crisis. Th rough signifi cant cost-cutting, RTL Group managed
to limit the eff ects of revenue declines on operating EBIT.
RTL Group’s operating EBIT was €793 million, compared to
€927 million in the previous year. Random House generated an
operating EBIT of €137 million in fi scal year 2009, which was
at the previous year’s level. In advertising-dependent business,
Gruner + Jahr was able to lower costs proportionally to the
decline in revenues, thereby dampening the eff ect on operating
EBIT. Gruner + Jahr achieved an operating EBIT of €203 million
(previous year: €225 million). Arvato likewise saw a decline
Revenues by Division
in € millions 2009 2008
Germany International Total Germany International Total
RTL Group 1,867 3,543 5,410 2,131 3,643 5,774
Random House 269 1,454 1,723 259 1,462 1,721
Gruner + Jahr 1,153 1,355 2,508 1,269 1,500 2,769
Arvato 2,078 2,748 4,826 2,178 2,815 4,993
Direct Group 208 1,038 1,246 287 1,109 1,396
Total revenues by division 5,575 10,138 15,713 6,124 10,529 16,653
Corporate/Consolidation (198) (151) (349) (270) (134) (404)
Consolidated revenues 5,377 9,987 15,364 5,854 10,395 16,249
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