Prosieben Sat 1 Media

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Q2 and H1 2021 results call of ProSiebenSat1 Media SE. This conference is being recorded. Today's call is hosted by Mr. Dirk Voigtlander. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the conference call on the occasion of ProSiebenSat1 Group's financial results for the second quarter of 2021. As in previous quarters, today's conference call will be hosted by Rainer Bourgeon, Chairman of the Executive Board, and Ralf Gierig, Deputy CFO of ProSiebenSat.1. In the presentation, which can be downloaded on our website, Rainer and Ralf will provide a review of the financial and operational highlights of the second quarter. Rainer will then comment on our outlook, which we already increased in the context of preliminary results published on July 19, 2021. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. With these opening remarks, I now hand over to Rainer.

Good morning also from my side and welcome to our analyst and investor call on our second quarter and half year 2021 results. ProSiebenSat.1 is on a growth path. After a good start into financial year 2021, we now recorded a very positive second quarter. We are seeing a strong recovery within our portfolio compared to the pandemic impacted previous year. Especially the advertising market has recovered even better than expected. Next to the revenues and adjusted EBITDA, also key performance indicators such as profitability, cash flow and net debt are developing in a positive and sustainable way. We are very pleased with the development of our company and seeing our strategy paying off. Our digital focus, our diversification and our synergistic setup have again been proving their value to the entire group. Today, We will start with a short overview of what shaped our second quarter in the first six months of the year before covering our group financials for the respective periods. We then give you an update on our operational highlights and we will close this presentation with a look at our group strategy and the outlook regarding the full year. The ProSieben.Eins business has been recovering strongly in the second quarter of 2021. First, Our diversification strategy based on three strong segments continues to pay off. We posted a dynamic revenue growth of 48% to 1 billion 48 million euros versus the previous year quarter. In our last 12 months, Q2 2021 group revenues are on a record level of 4 billion 399 million euros. Second, as the advertising market environment normalizes, our entertainment advertising revenues recovered significantly and grew by a strong plus of 55% to 542 million euros. With this, we are already on pre-pandemic level of Q2 2019. Third, in commerce and ventures, we achieved an organic revenue growth of 18% with a broad-based recovery of most businesses. Our dating segment again benefited from the first-time consolidation of the meet group and the growing live video business. Part of it is our product VPath, which we will talk later about. Fourth, Following this dynamic revenue increase, our group's adjusted EBITDA improved significantly and grew more than sevenfold to €166 million. Our adjusted net income increased by €114 million in the second quarter. At the same time, our cash flow and net debt improved significantly and sustainably too, also thanks to our consistent management based on these indicators. Thus, we were only slightly above the upper end of our financial leverage target range of 1.5 times and 2.5 times. Fifth, consequently, and considering a solid economic environment in the German-speaking markets, we have again increased our financial targets for the full year 2021. Also here, I will provide you with more detail later. Slide four provides an overview of the current market environment in Germany. Both the COVID-19 and the macro indicators reveal a strong recovery which has been accelerating in the second quarter of this year. With the increasing progress of full vaccinations to about 50% of the German population, the COVID-19 infection rate has declined significantly in Germany. And just as confidence is growing daily in the private sector, macro indices are also increasing again. EFO business expectations among German companies, as well as the market purchasing managers index, are highlighting the growing optimism regarding the health of the German economy. This image of optimism and a healthy business can also be applied to our business at ProSiebenSat.Eins, On to slide number five. This slide provides you with a good overview on our strong development across our portfolio, leading to a substantial revenue growth of 48%. Thanks to our diversification strategy, we recorded the highest second quarter revenues in the history of ProSiebenSat.1. In the entertainment segment, besides our advertising business, also our content production business, has recovered from the COVID-19 effects, while our crisis-resilient distribution business continued to grow. In the dating segment, we benefited from the first-time consolidation of the Meet Group, especially its dynamically increasing live video business. On a performer basis, we grew by 5% in the second quarter. Also, in our commerce and venture segment, the COVID-19 impacted businesses have started their recovery, which led to a double-digit organic revenue increase in the overall segment. On a reported basis, we are thus almost compensating for the deconsolidation of InstaMedical after its disposal last December. In other words, all signs are set for growth, And herewith, I hand over to our deputy CFO, Ralf Gehrig, for our Q2 and half-year group financials.