INVESTMENTS IN THOUSAND EUROS
The focus of investment activity continues, as in the previous year, to be on the further development of our editorial, archival and ERP systems as well as well as on measures for IT security. Additional funds were allocated to the technical building infrastructure at the Hamburg and Frankfurt locations.
3. Position
Earnings performance
With a net profit of 1.6 million euros, the earnings forecast was exceeded despite a lower-than-expected growth in turnover. This is partly due once again to a strong performance from dpa subsidiaries and associates. Without the higher-than-planned allocation to the provident fun of 0.5 million euros, the net profit for the year would have been even higher.
The turnover at dpa Deutsche-Presse-Agentur GmbH increased by 1.8 million euros, or 1.7%, to 107.4 million euros. The planned increase of over 3.4 million euros was therefore only partially achieved. The main factor behind the increase in turnover was in integration of the digital editorial team at dpa-infocom into the dpa central editorial team and the associated transfer of the corresponding WebLine revenues. Without this transfer, which took place on 1.7.2024 and only had a full-year impact in 2025, dpa GmbH would have recorded a slight decline in revenue. Deviations from the projected turnover were primarily due to revenues in the image sector falling significantly short of budget.
Despite a continued decline in circulation figures in the print sector, the conversion of customers to the new pricing model already completed in 2023 enabled turnover from traditional news services to once again remain largely stable, albeit with slight shifts within the services. By contrast, declines were recorded in dpa-Grafikdienst, dpa-select and Custom Content.
In the image sector, both the Aktuelle Bildfunk, which has also been affected by the decline in circulation, and the secondary marketing of images saw significant declines in revenues. For Bildfunk, the decline was 0.3 million euros, while for the secondary marketing it was 0.5 million euros, as a result of the partly dramatic decline in prices. However, this negative development was offset by the growth at dpa Picture-Alliance.
The Custom Content division failed to meet the growth expectations and recorded significant declines, particularly in the media monitoring segment. By focusing on profitable business, it was nevertheless able to fully achieve its budgeted earnings target.
Two other offerings in the new product areas also performed very well. First, Digital Publishing recorded growth of just under 0.15 million euros, and the dpa-Videoservice even grew by 0.2 million euros, a particularly encouraging result given the struggles of previous years.
Revenues from technology and transmission remained at the previous year’s level of 1.9 million euros, and revenues from the trading business, especially from the distribution of AP and dpa-AFX partner products, also remained almost stable at 4.0 million euros (last year: 4.1 million euros).
Other operating income declined by 0.7 million euros to 5.6 million euros. In addition to a number of minor factors, this decline is primarily attributable to the aforementioned integration of the digital editorial department into dpa GmbH and the ensuing elimination of intercompany service charges to dpa-infocom GmbH.