Value for the shareholders

16 April 2009
week
16
Value for the shareholders
Chairman Siegfried Luther about RTL Group’s dividend,
business development and the work of the Board of Directors
Germany
United Kingdom
Individual cross-media
concepts
A new season of
Britain’s Got Talent
France
Croatia
Revamping M6’s website
Countdown to the motto shows
week
16
COVER:
Siegfried Luther, Chairman of the Board of Directors
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“Our first priority
remains to create value
for all our shareholders”
Siegried Luther, Chairman of the Board of Directors
Each year in April, the RTL Group Annual
General Meeting (AGM) takes place at the
Corporate Center in Luxembourg – to approve
the accounts for the preceding fiscal year, to
decide about the dividend payout, to discharge
the directors and the auditors and to renew
mandates. This year’s AGM approved a total
dividend payout of EUR 541 million for the fiscal year 2008.
Six members of the Board of Directors attended the AGM in person. Siegfried Luther,
Chairman of the Board of Directors, and RTL
Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler were joined by the
Bertelsmann CFO Thomas Rabe and the independent directors Onno Ruding, Jacques
Santer and Martin Taylor.
In an interview with Backstage, Chairman
Siegfried Luther talks about the Group’s development in recent years, explains how the dividend proposal to the AGM is calculated and
describes the co-operation of the Board and
the executive management.
You’ve served as Chairman of the Board of
Directors since December 2004. Looking
back over the last four years, how would you
assess the development of RTL Group?
Without a doubt the last four years have been
On the occasion of this year’s Annual General
Meeting, Backstage talked with Siegfried
Luther, Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Luxembourg - 9 April 2009
an excellent time for RTL Group. A look at the
key financial figures for 2005 to 2008 shows
how positive the company’s development has
been: its revenues, operating profit and return
on sales have grown each year. In other words,
the company’s core business operations have
made a great deal of progress.
Moreover, RTL Group has consistently and
successfully followed its strategy by significantly expanding its family of channels in
Germany, France, the Netherlands and
Belgium. In Germany, the Vox channel has
grown into a new order of magnitude, in terms
of both audience share and contribution to
operating profit. In France, Groupe M6 is well
on its way to a similar success story with W9.
In the Netherlands, a fourth channel was launched with RTL 8. In Belgium, the relaunch of
Plug RTL has been a great success. At the
same time, the large family channels like RTL
Television, M6, RTL 4 and RTL-TVI have continued to achieve big audiences. RTL Group
continued its geographic expansion with Ren
TV in Russia and the Alpha Media Group in
Greece – always with circumspection and a
sense of proportion.
The Group has also made great strides in revenues not related to advertising. In addition to
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However, with regard to the total dividend per
share, the management and the Board always
takes into account several factors to prepare its
dividend proposal to the Shareholders Meeting:
the cash flow of the Group, its net cash position
and debt situation, upcoming investment projects or possible acquisitions and the economic
environment.
Based on the 2008 results and the significant
net cash position of RTL Group, we proposed a
total dividend of EUR 3.50 per share, including
a special dividend of EUR 2.10 per share.
As the General Meeting of Shareholders accepted this proposal, RTL Group will distribute a
total dividend of EUR 541 million for financial
year 2008.
RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler at the Annual General Meeting
new activities such as mobile TV, catch-up TV
services, video games and social networks,
FremantleMedia in particular has developed
into a strong second mainstay for RTL Group.
Some economic changes were already seen
in 2008. How did RTL Group cope?
In the face of a tougher economic climate, RTL
Group generated sound results throughout
2008. The operating profit increased above
EUR 900 million for the first time, despite mixed
advertising conditions across Europe, and the
Group again showed substantial cash generation. Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland and
FremantleMedia contributed strongly to this
sound performance. All in all, the Group has
made good progress in its declared strategy.
Of course the world financial crisis and a weak
economic outlook have affected all stock markets. Despite this fact, RTL Group enters 2009
in a very solid position. We have no debt. We
have a balanced portfolio, with broadcasting
activities in 11 European countries as well as a
worldwide production arm, which makes us
less dependent on advertising. This broad and
secure set-up, combined with our strong
content and brands, is the foundation of RTL
Group’s reliable business model.
Once again this year, the total dividend is
composed of an ordinary and an extraordinary dividend. How is the dividend calculated?
RTL Group’s dividend policy is to distribute an
ordinary dividend of between 35 and 50 per
cent of the ordinary earnings. This explains the
ordinary dividend of EUR 1.40 per share.
Would it not make sense, in the context of
the difficult economic environment, to keep
the cash reserve in the company, instead of
paying it out?
As a public company, our first priority remains
to create value for all our shareholders.
We are very proud that we are able to pay our
shareholders a significant dividend of more
than EUR 500 million – and still, we’ll continue
to have a significant positive net cash position.
At the moment, there is no major acquisition
target on the radar screen that would justify sitting on a net cash position of almost EUR 900
million.
So with significant cash balances on the balance sheet, the Board has decided that a special
dividend is the best way to create value for all
shareholders. Over the last three years, RTL
Group has returned EUR 1.8 billion to its shareholders without effecting its business development.
How well are the Board and the management working together?
The cooperation between the Board of
Directors and the Executive Committee is very
positive. As Chairman of the Board my contact
with the Group’s CEO Gerhard Zeiler and CFO
Elmar Heggen is not limited to regular Board
meetings. We speak regularly by phone, or
meet to discuss important strategic matters or
personnel issues.
The division of responsibilities between the
Board and management is clearly regulated by
RTL Group’s Corporate Governance: the responsibility for day-to-day management of the
Group is delegated to the CEO, but the Board,
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which meets at least four times a year, has a
formal schedule of matters reserved to it including approval of the annual overall Group budget, significant acquisitions and disposals, and
the Group’s financial statements. In addition,
the Board of Directors has to review, if requested with the assistance of an expert, that any
transaction between RTL Group and any of its
shareholders is at ‘arm’s-length’ terms.
The board has reviewed and evaluated its performance in 2008 by sending out a questionnaire to the Board and Committees members.
Results of this evaluation show that, if as usual
there is always place for small improvement,
the Board members are unanimously satisfied
with the way the Board and its Committees are
managed and composed.
On this basis, we have a close, mutually trustful working relationship.
What is the role of the Independent
Directors?
Three of the non-executive directors – Onno
Ruding, Jacques Santer and Martin Taylor – are
independent of management and other interests that might interfere with their independent
judgement.
They play an important role in the work of the
Board of Directors, based on their expertise
and their contacts in the financial and corporate world. Mr. Ruding is chairing the Audit
Committee and Mr Taylor is charing the
Nomination and Compensation Committee.
RTL Group has been managed according
to this structure of corporate governance for
nearly ten years now. RTL Group was listed on
RTL Group Annual General Meeting 2009
the London Stock Exchange in the summer of
2000 following the merger of CLT-UFA and
Pearson TV. At that time, the Board was also
installed – and from the beginning, alongside
representatives of the major shareholders,
there were also Independent Directors. Two of
them, Onno Ruding and Martin Taylor, are
Board members since the beginning. They
have all contributed a huge amount towards
RTL Group’s successful development, continually introducing new ways of thinking and
ideas to the work of the Board and its
Committees.
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Moving stories, strong
ratings and financials
Annual Report 2008
2008 was another gratifying year for RTL Group
and its shareholders. For the seventh year running, RTL Group increased its revenue and
operating profit, despite increasingly difficult
advertising markets. We therefore face the current economic crisis in a position of calm and
strength, helped by the fact that we have no
debt and a well-balanced portfolio.
As it does every year, the report provides a
detailed and transparent account of the key
figures. On 182 pages, the Annual Report 2008
sums up the financials of the past year, as well
as its ratings and special events, while putting
a particular emphasis on the ‘celebrity’ factor.
In 2008, RTL Group again produced a raft of
popular programmes, and with them winners
whose lives were changed for the better in a
short time. The new RTL Group Annual Report
presents four of these winners on its cover.
By doing so, the Annual Report prominently
highlights the central photo story “Special
moments of 2008” in its inner pages. It relates
the fortunes of protagonists whose lives have
been changed by TV or radio: Alexandra Burke,
who after being eliminated from the British casting show The X Factor in 2005, was promptly
voted the winner on her second attempt in
2008; or Victorine Dikobo, who was going to be
deported from France after the death of her
child, but has now got a new visa thanks to RTL
Radio coverage; and Michael Hirte, who went
from being a street musician to stardom via Das
Supertalent.
RTL Group’s new Annual Report also tackles
the important topic of “The Value of Television”
With the Annual General Meeting, RTL Group
published its Annual Report 2008.
Luxembourg - 15 April 2009
with this cover story – following CEO Gerhard
Zeiler’s speech last June at Medienforum NRW,
and RTL Group’s brochure “TV or Not to BE”
published in late summer 2008.
The magazine-like design of the Annual Report
is continued in the “Year in Review” section.
With articles which are as entertaining as they
are informative, interviews, illustrative photographs and graphics, this section relates
success stories from the profit centres and
gives information about the main shows,
awards and topics of the past year. And of
course, the stars and starlets once again make
their red-carpet appearances here.
“The Annual Report has been further improved
both in its mandatory sections and the nice-tohave elements,” says Oliver Herrgesell, Head of
Corporate Communications at RTL Group, who
supervised the Annual Report’s content and
production: “The four different versions of the
cover pay tribute to four special people whose
lives took a dramatic, positive turn last year
because of RTL Group programmes – thereby
emphasising the social value of the television.”
Since the clear separation of storytelling and
financial sections proved its worth in the two
prior Annual Reports, there was no fundamental change to the internationally successful and
award-winning design. The “red dot” brand
recognition feature was also retained. In the
Group management report, the ‘Directors’
report’, the sections on the individual profit
centre sections are now clearly separated from
each other. In addition, the CEOs of each unit
are shown with a photo and a short quote
about 2008.
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2008 Annual Report covers
One small highlight this year is a competition at
the end of the Annual Report – a quiz about
RTL Group’s financial year 2008. Anyone who
submits all the correct answers by 31 May
2009 can win a retro Adidas Olympique de
Marseille football shirt with RTL’s logo on it as
the main sponsor.
The mini-brochure ‘At a glance’ was also produced once more to accompany the Annual
Report. In a handy format, it clearly and concisely sums up all the relevant facts and figures
from 2008.
The RTL Group Annual Report and the ‘At a
glance’ mini-brochure were designed in cooperation with the Ringzwei agency and with help
from all the profit centres as well as the
Corporate Centre’s Controlling
and Finance departments.
Oliver
Fahlbusch,
Vice
President
of
Corporate
Communications, was in
charge of the project.
The new Annual Report
2008 and/or the
minibrochure can be downloaded
at
RTLGroup.com or can
be ordered in printed
form by submitting the
appropriate form.
Mini
Broc
hure
Overview: Awards for RTL Group Annual Report 2007
ARC Awards 2008
Gold Award
Category “Interior Design: Media Company”
Silver Award
Category “Overall Annual Report: Media Company”
LACP 2007 Vision Awards – Annual Report Competition
Platinum Award
Category “Overall”
“Top 100 Annual Reports of 2007”, ranking at No. 25
LACP 2008 Spotlight Awards
Platinum Award
Category “Overall”
Platinum Award
Category “Best Narrative”
Recognized as one of the “Top 100 Communications Materials of 2008”,
ranking at No. 2
Mercury Excellence Awards 2008/09
Gold Winner
Category “Design: Overall Annual Report – Over 130 Pages”
Silver Winner
Category “Annual Report – Overall Presentation: Media”
2008 International Business Awards (The Stevie Awards)
Finalist for “Best Annual Report 2007”
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Individual cross-media
concepts
Johann Lafer in Die Kocharena
IP Deutschland regularly puts together bespoke
cross-media concepts for its customers. Recently,
the company partnered with Media Team OMD
to draw up a gourmet concept involving on-air,
online and direct-marketing measures.
Germany - 15 April 2009
Starting 15 April, trailers for a Barilla prize draw
will be aired in time slots surrounding Vox’s
food-related programmes Das perfekte Dinner,
Das perfekte Promi Dinner, Wissenshunger and
Die Kocharena. The grand prize up for grabs is
a 10-day tour of Italy for two, including an
upscale cooking course at the ‘Academia
Barilla’.
Customers enter to win on a microsite designed especially for Barilla: it contains a section
featuring Pasta recipes, along with suggested
menus and travel information about six different regions of Italy. The site also refers users to
Barilla’s ‘The Taste of Italy’ point-of-sale promotions. The microsite will be integrated in the
Cooking section of Vox.de.
Lars-Eric Mann, Sales Director Solutions at IP
Deutschland, says: “Our portfolio offers a
wealth of mix-and-match advertising modules
for perfect-fit cross-media campaigns. After an
in-depth analysis of the customer’s brand, we
picked the best possible advertising measures
for Barilla.”
The site will be promoted with co-branded ads
on sites in the RTL Interactive portfolio such as
RTLreisen.de, Wetter.de and Kochbar.de.
Direct-marketing measures in RTL Television
and Vox newsletters round off the extensive
cross-media campaign.
Das perfekte Dinner
Luca Zanetti, Marketing Manager for
Barilla Germany & Austria, comments:
“IP Deutschland won us over with its crossmedia concept. The coordination of the goals
and the communication plan, always done in a
very constructive way and with a view to creating win-win situations, provide an excellent
complement to our traditional campaign.”
The prize draw trailers were produced by Vox,
the microsite, online ads and newsletter banner
by RTL Interactive. The campaign ends on
15 May 2009.
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Only two clicks away
With the launch of its redesigned website M6.fr, Groupe M6 establishes itself
among users and advertisers as a leader in premium-quality video on the internet
and to strengthen the relationship to its viewers.
France - 10 April 2009
Th enewly designed website emphasis on videos and interactivity
After successfully launching M6 Replay and its
thematic portals (Turbo.fr, Deco.fr, Téva.fr),
Groupe M6 is giving its website M6.fr a new
look to better respond to the expectations of
users and advertisers. The newly designed site
intends to have more clarity. A natural extension of the channel M6, M6.fr is now focusing
more on television programmes. Its new graphic environment gives it a more contemporary
feel. Thanks to entirely redesigned ergonomics,
now all the content on M6.fr will be accessible
in two clicks. The site is also placing increased
emphasis on videos, with plenty of new ones to
be watched.
On the interactive side, beyond the tools of traditional forums, M6.fr is inviting television viewers and users to exchange opinions on the
channel’s flagship programmes. This new ways
of interaction will start next Tuesday with the
broadcast of Nouvelle Star. Other strong points
of the site include its innovative advertising formats, which have greater impact thanks to
multi-screen methods and opportunities to personalise pages that are highly advanced.
According to Mediamétrie Netratings,
in February, M6.fr captivated almost 4 million
unique visitors.
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Return of the Talent
Susan Boyle
Britain’s Got Talent, produced by Talkback
Thames, once again travels the length and
breadth of the UK in search of Britain’s best
talent as of 11 April – with excellent ratings and
making headlines worldwide.
United Kingdom - 14 April 2009
Hosted by Ant and Dec, with Simon Cowell,
Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden on the judging panel, the first episode of the third season
of Britain’s Got Talent on Saturday 11 April on
ITV 1 attracted 10.5 million viewers, translating
to a total audience share of 45.1 per cent. The
judge’s quest is to find Britain’s top talent and
the only rules are that there are no rules. The
show is open to any performer, of any age and
with any background. All they need is a talent
that they think will impress the judges, – and
ultimately HRH The Prince of Wales, as the winner wins a prize slot in this year’s Royal Variety
Performance.
The second series of Britain’s Got
Talent showcased a fantastic
range and diversity of talent,
including the sensational winner,
14 year-old break-dancer George
Sampson,
with
runners-up
Bhangra dancers Signature and
opera singer Andrew Johnston.
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ance on
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The public are allowed access to all the audition venues in all the major cities around the
country. And although the audience can’t buzz
the acts out like the judges, their reactions can
influence their decision. So with the audience
acting as an unofficial ‘fourth judge’ it’s crucial
the acts win them over as well as the judges.
The 48 year-old unemployed singleton Susan
Boyle from West Lothian is already making
headlines worldwide. Gyrating her hips towards
the Judges, they, and the audience, all look
slightly perplexed and hold out little hope for
her vocals. But Susan delivered a stunning performance, blowing away the audience and judges by her version of I Dream A Dream from Les
Miserables. International media already picked
up Susan’s performance, calling her “a new
Paul Potts.” On YouTube, the Clip of her performance has already been watched more than 5
million times within four days.
Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell
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New Tatort episode now in production
Teamworx is producing its first episode ever for traditional crime series Tatort.
The episode Schweinegeld will air on ARD in November.
Germany - 15 April 2009
Filming for the RBB’s new Tatort episode, starring the Berlin team of investigators Dominic
Raacke (Detective Ritter) and Boris Aljinovic
(Detective Stark), began in March in Berlin,
directed by Bodo Fürneisen. The screenplay
was penned by Thorsten Wettcke and
Christoph Silber, who won the Marler Group
Audience Award at the 2009 Grimme Awards
for another Tatort screenplay, Auf der
Sonnenseite (On The Sunny Side).
Schweinegeld is UFA’s first production for the
popular German crime series Tatort (Crime
Scene) and is a Burkert Barreiss Development
production by Teamworx, commissioned by the
RBB for Das Erste. Its producers are Nico
Hofmann (Teamworx), Gloria Burkert and
Andreas
Bareiss
(Burkert
Bareiss
Development). The episode will be shot in
Berlin through the middle of the month, and is
scheduled for broadcast in November 2009.
In Schweinegeld, Detectives Ritter and Stark
investigate the murder of the Berlin meat baron
Merklinger, who following his sudden disappearance is found dead in the cold store of his
meat factory.
The countdown begins
The Jury of Hrvatska Trazi Zvijezdu
In the first five episodes of the popular talent
show, the judging panel – composed of singers
Jelena Radan and Tony Cetinski and the Dallas
Records CEO Goran Lisica Fox – had listened
to talent from Croatia’s biggest cities. The 100
best were recalled and competed in two episodes, leaving 16 candidates in the running to
become Croatia’s new Idol.
Shortly before the shows start, Tony Cetinski
used his right as chairman of the jury to nominate a seventeenth candidate: Sementa. “I said
Now that the exciting audition shows are over,
Hrvatska Trazi Zvijezdu (Croatian Idol) enters
the motto shows.
Croatia - 15 April 2009
in the show that I would like to see her in the
Top 16 but I was outvoted. But as the chairman, I’ve decided to bring her back,” explains
Tony. “I saw her potential from the very beginning. She is talented and hardworking.”
The seven episodes to date were watched by
an average 29.1 per cent of the 18- to 49-yearold target demographic. The remaining
17 candidates will perform in live shows beginning 17 April at 20:00.
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A different take on the natural sciences
Season three of the popular Spanish series Física o Química made its debut on
Antena 3 on Monday 13 April, attaining a total audience share of 15.7 per cent.
Spain - 10 April 2009
Autumn sizzler
Hot moves and hip grooves, a mix of hip-hop, jazz, freestyle and ballet – blend it all
together and you get Fame. The remake of the 1980 classic opens in German theatres this
autumn, distributed by Universum Film. On Easter Sunday, the movie Nachts in Museum
attracted 5.75 million viewers – a market share of 35.8 per cent among viewers aged
14 to 49.
Germany - 10 April 2009
Excellent Easter ratings
RTL Television kept audiences happy with film and show highlights on the Easter
weekend.
Germany - 14 April 2009
Over 130 million PIs in March
In March, Toggo.de generated more than 132 million Page Impressions (PIs) and
2.96 million Visits – the website’s best performance since it was re-launched in May 2008.
Germany - 14 April 2009
Outlaw
On Wednesday 15 April, RTL Exklusief and John van den Heuvel track the Hell’s Angels
with the help of an ex-member.
Netherlands - 14 April 2009
Hannah Montana’s German voice
13-year-old Jenny Haben from St. Wendel has been picked to follow in Hannah Montana’s
footsteps. In the Be a star singing contest organised by Super RTL and Disney Channel,
Jenny prevailed against well over 2,000 competitors.
Germany - 15 April 2009
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