Profit slips at Publigroupe
Net profit at the Swiss media and advertising company, Publigroupe, fell by 10 per cent to SFr140 million ($82.9 million) last year. The firm said the drop was partly due to increased investment in its Internet business.
The Lausanne-based group was nevertheless upbeat about future prospects. It said the figures had exceeded the company’s forecasts issued in February, adding that the results at business units PubliPresse, Publicitas, Promotion Network and PubliDirect were better than expected.
Publigroupe, which is Switzerland’s biggest seller of advertising, also announced that it would leave its dividend for this year unchanged at SFr25 per share.
It said it expected a considerable increase in operating profit in 2001 although financial earnings would be below the 2000 level due to a lack of extraordinary income this year.
Operating profit was down 40 per cent at SFr51 million in 2000, after the group made a SFr74 million investment in Internet investments.
Financial earnings in 2000 rose by four per cent to SFr118 million after the company made an exceptional gain through disposals from its real estate portfolio.
Sales at Publigroupe rose 17 per cent in 2000 to SFr2.71 billion.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.