RTL Rtl Group

RNS Number:3287O
RTL Group
7 December 2001



                                                               7 December 2001

                                  RTL Group

                           Pre-close Trading Update

RTL Group is today issuing a pre-close trading update ahead of its year-end on
31 December 2001. RTL Group will report full year results on 4 March 2002.

Didier Bellens, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Group, commented:

"Advertising markets across Europe have continued to deteriorate since our
results announcement in September. We now expect that the television
advertising market as a whole in Germany, France and the UK will be down,
year-on- year, by up to 10 per cent in the respective markets.

However, we continue to outperform our peers in our core markets, in respect
of both audience share and advertising market share. The relative strength of
our performance demonstrates the competitive advantages of our unique
pan-European reach and our integrated approach.

We are continuing to review and implement cost control measures, where
appropriate, and are performing a thorough review of our portfolio resulting
in disposals or closure of non-core or under-performing assets.

Our strengths and multi-territory position set us apart from many of our
competitors in the media sector. Both Moody's and Standard & Poor's have
recently affirmed our 'A'-ratings and have assigned them to our new Euro
Medium Term Note programme and syndicated loan. This reflects our financial
strength and demonstrates that the combination and diversity of our assets are
compelling."

Current Trading and Outlook

As a result of the deterioration in the market since September, RTL Group now
expects EBITA to be some 35-40 per cent below the 2000 proforma EBITA of EUR
555 million, before restructuring and investments in new businesses.
Restructuring costs and investments in new businesses are currently forecast
to be EUR 40 million and EUR 28 million respectively. We are also reviewing
options for our Polish operations.

Visibility remains poor and it continues to be difficult to predict the
outlook with any certainty. However, based on our forward bookings thus far,
we expect that advertising in the first half of 2002 will show continued
weakness. This will partially be offset by the beneficial impact of the
restructuring and portfolio review at RTL Group.

The Company will announce its annual results on 4 March 2002 in London, at the
offices of FremantleMedia, 1 Stephen Street.

Media contacts:                        Media and Investors:

RTL Group                              Finsbury

Roy Addison                            Julius Duncan

Markus Payer                           Katie Lang

+ 352 421 42 5020                      + 44 207 251 3801

roy.addison@rtlgroup.com               Julius.Duncan@finsbury.com

markus.payer@rtlgroup.com              katie.lang@finsbury.com


DIVISIONAL INFORMATION

Television
                          Audience market share      Advertising market share
                                                     (%)
                                14-49 (%)
                       YTD October     YTD October    YTD October      YTD
                          2001            2000           2001
                                                                   October 2000
Germany 1    RTL          18.0            16.9           28.9          27.3
             RTL II        5.7             7.2            6.3          6.0
             Super         2.4             2.2            2.2          1.9
             Vox           4.3             3.9            4.0          3.7

                          Audience market share      Advertising market share
                                                     (%)
                                15-49 (%)
France 2     M6           18.8            17.7         23.0          21.1

                          Audience market share      Advertising market share
                                                     (%)
                                16-34 (%)
UK 3                       5.5             5.3          6.2          6.1

                          Audience market share      Advertising market share
                                                     (%)
                          20-49 (%) 18:00-24:00
Netherlands  RTL4         16.5            15.2         40.8
4            RTL5          4.8             4.7
             Yorin         8.3            10.4                       45.2

                          Audience market share      Advertising market share
                                                     (%)
                          18-44 (%) 17:00-23:00

Belgium 5    RTL TVI      24.5            26.0         57.0          57.0

Sources (for audience/ for advertising):

1) GFK/ A.C.Nielsen Werbeforschung S+P; 2) Mediametrie/ SECODIP; 3) BARB/
Industry Sources;

4) Intomart/ BBC; 5) Audiometrie CIM Sud/ Videotrack

In Germany and France, which in 2000 accounted for 70 per cent of RTL Group's
total TV revenue, we continue to outperform our peers, both in terms of
audience and advertising share.

RTL Group's channels have maintained their strong market position with
continued ratings success with formats like "Who wants to be a Millionaire?",
"Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten", "IQ Test" and the comedy series "Mein Leben
und Ich". This has enabled the RTL family of channels to increase their
advertising market share, on a cumulative basis to the end of October, to 41.4
per cent, up from 38.9 per cent for the same period in 2000, whilst the
audience share in the key 14-49 age group rose to 30.4 per cent, up from 30.2
per cent in 2000.

In France, the beneficial impact of "Loft Story" has been followed by the very
successful launch of "Popstars". This has helped push the audience share for
M6 to 18.8 per cent, up from 17.7 per cent. M6 continues to outperform its
peers, growing its advertising share from 21.1 per cent to 23.0 per cent
year-on-year. A significant proportion (approximately 30%) of the total
revenue generated by M6 is non-advertising related thus providing a best
practice example of revenue stream diversification.

The UK and the Netherlands were the first to experience the decline in
advertising market conditions. Despite this, Channel 5 in the UK has managed
to increase its share of the advertising market to 6.2 per cent in a market
now expected to decline by 10 per cent in 2001 (source IP forecast Nov 2001).
This is principally due to the increased investment in programming and, in
particular, to the very successful launch of "Home & Away" in July.
Significant audiences have been attracted to the time slots both before and
after "Home & Away" is broadcast, thus benefiting the whole schedule. RTL
Group fully supports the continued investment in programming believing that
this will build long-term value at the expense of significant short-term
losses.

In the Netherlands, RTL Group's channels lost 0.7 per cent audience share and
4.4 per cent advertising market share in a market that is now expected to fall
8 per cent year-on-year. Since its launch, and after an initial loss of
audience share, Yorin is now showing audience share growth in the target
market 20-49 and we are confident that this will continue. In September, RTL 4
regained its market leadership with an audience share of 16.4 per cent in its
target group.

In Belgium, RTL Group's channels maintained their strong position in a flat TV
advertising market.

Radio

In Radio, the ratings for November show that RTL in France has successfully
stemmed the audience decline and is clearly in the number one position, with
an audience share of 13.9 per cent versus 13.0 % at the beginning of this
year. Fun Radio grew its audience market share to 4.1 per cent, up from 3.2
per cent for the same period in 2000. RTL 2's audience share grew its share to
3.1 per cent, its best ever result. The French radio advertising market is now
expected to be down 11% year on year.

Content

The merger of our sports business, UFA Sports, with those of Groupe
Jean-Claude Darmon and Sport+, a subsidiary of Canal+ Group, was approved by
the European Commission in November and will be completed at the shareholders
meeting of Groupe Jean-Claude Darmon on 18 December 2001.

UFA Sports has had a very successful year in 2001 and we are expecting the new
combined Group, Sportfive, to further grow and enhance revenue streams.

The restructuring of our US production activities was largely completed in the
first half of the year. The US syndication business was closed down in the
second half of 2001, following the completion of a deal with the Tribune Group
who will now manage our syndicated game shows. We will also co-operate with
Tribune on potential development and co-production concepts. The total cost of
the restructuring of the US activities amounts to EUR 35 million.

Following the downsizing of our international drama activities, we have
re-focused on our core production business. Our continued backing of this
business, reflected by an increased development spend, is beginning to pay
off. New formats recently launched include "Pop Idol" and "Farmer Wants A
Wife" on ITV, "Das Quiz mit Jorg Pilawa" on ARD, "Die Quiz Show" on SAT1 and
"La Gym des Neurones" on France2.

As part of the continued drive for synergies between the production business
and broadcasters, the joint venture between FremantleMedia and HMG, Holland
Media House (HMH), will be launching new formats that will be broadcast on our
Dutch channels. Co-production and development arrangements in other countries
are also being explored with the aim to further increase synergistic benefits.

New Media

We continue to be one of the leading players in Europe with RTL World (RTL.de)
and M6 Web (m6.fr) commanding leading spots in their markets as general
entertainment sites. As previously indicated, we continue our approach of
controlled investments in new media activities, building on strong brands,
content and community. Looking forwards, we will reduce our losses in new
media by up to 50% next year, in response to lower than expected revenue
growth.

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