AZ Medien also suffers a loss in 2018
The Aargau media company AZ Medien posted a loss of 2.2 million Swiss francs in 2018. Sales increased by 12 percent to 244 million Swiss francs.
As a result of the merger of AZ Medien with NZZ Regionalmedien as of October 1 to form CH Media, the company's results are strongly influenced by provisions and one-off costs, AZ Medien announced on Thursday.
The financial year is made up of the first three quarters of AZ Medien and 50 percent of the fourth quarter of CH Media. The Aargau-based media company had already posted a loss of CHF 1.6 million in the previous year.
Declining print markets and high investments in the diversification of the portfolio and the transformation of existing businesses would have contributed significantly to the negative operating result. Provisions for the forthcoming restructuring at CH Media also depressed the result.
The company cites the integration of the radio stations Radio 24 and Radio Argovia, the consolidation of the private TV station S1, and the integration of the news portal Watson into AZ Medien as reasons for the higher revenues.
The national TV business, newspaper printing and digital business also made positive contributions to sales. The equity ratio fell from 49 to 38 percent. At the end of September, AZ Medien had 847 full-time employees. (SDA)
