The increased expenses for salary payments and social security contributions due to a noticeable increase in the number of employees and an adjustment of salaries at the beginning of the year are offset on balance by a 0.5 million euros lower special allocation to the dpa provident fund. The significant increase in jobs is essentially due to the merger of Zentralbild into dpa (+20) and the expansion of the Custom Content business unit (+10).
Contrary to earlier hopes, 2022 did not yet bring the big turnaround when it came to the pandemic. For example, unfortunately it was not yet possible to often use the offices, some of which had already been redesigned in line with the “new working worlds,” to their full capacity. However, the collective bargaining negotiations at one subsidiary could already take place again in person. This was certainly one of the reasons that a deal was reached in December.
The number of lucrative but short-running contracts increased markedly during the year under review. This led to a significant change in the demands placed on HR. A recruiting unit had already been set up in the previous year to deal temporarily with the need to recruit personnel with specific project-related skills and knowledge with short lead times as part of these projects. This also showed the first positive effects of the measures to expand “dpa” as an employer brand, particularly in the area of social media and as part of a first successful trade fair appearance as an exhibitor at the annual “OMR Festival” (Online Marketing Rockstars Festival) for digital marketing and technology. As a result, a significant increase in the number of suitable applications was noted.
The average number of employees for the year rose to 697 (previous year: 660). The proportion of female employees in the company has barely changed and remains at just over 50%. The number of part-time employees increased to 157 (previous year: 143).
Depreciation and amortisation amounted to 2.7 million euros, up 0.1 million euros on the previous year.
Other operating expenses increased by 2.7 million euros to 24.8 million euros. In addition to the special expenses for the Winter Olympics and the Football World Cup, a noticeable increase in travel expenses again played a major role. However, the main reason for the high increase was the scheduled increase of more than 1.8 million euros in technical development and operating costs to accelerate key innovation projects at the agency and for construction measures at the Hamburg site.
The financial result amounted to 17.9 million euros, compared with 18.7 million euros in the previous year, and thus fell by around 4%. Both income from investments and the earnings contributions of subsidiaries with PLTAs remained constant, as did interest income from securities. The decrease is mainly due to a book value write-down in connection with the sale of an investment and unrealised price losses from the valuation of securities held as fixed assets.
This resulted in earnings before taxes of 1.9 million euros. Net income after taxes amounted to 1.2 million euros, 0.8 million euros below the previous year’s figure.