In October 2006, Bauer group said it acquired Broker FM, the owner of RMF FM radio. A big media group was thus created. The management of the radio station said it hoped for bigger promotion budget and investments. Two years later, it turns out that savings are mostly on the agenda. Last year, Broker’s sales rose 3 percent to PLN 190m (EUR 56.2m). The operating income doubled to PLN 30.2m while the net income – jumped by 60 percent to over PLN 20m. The group consists of magazines and dailies, radio and internet. But synergy effects are not huge.
“The cooperation reduces our costs by 10-15 percent”, Marek Dworak, Broker CEO said.
Bauer group withdrew the stock of Broker and Interia from the stock exchange. The funds raised this way are supposed to make the structure of the capital group more transparent.
“100 percent of Interia should belong to Bauer group (today, 77 percent does, the rest is owned by Broker). We have also bought 100 percent of Multimedia, a shareholder of RMF Maxxx”, Marek Dworak added.
Earlier, he hoped that the German group would finance acquisitions in Poland and abroad. But it looks there won’t be any spectacular transactions in the near future. More projects may be implemented in Ukraine.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.296)