The Magazines area in France ended 2010 with revenues of €344.2 million, an increase of 0.2% compared with 2009. On a like-for-like basis in terms of the titles in the portfolio, in other words net of the titles disposed of and the effect of the launch of Grazia, the increase was of 6.2%.
Gross operating profit more than doubled, compared with 2009, reaching €28.6 million.
| (in €m) | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|
| Magazine revenues | 330.6 | 329.3 |
| Other revenues | 13.6 | 14.2 |
|
|
344.2 | 343.5 |
| Operating costs | (315.6) | (330.5) |
| Gross operating profit | 28.6 | 13.0 |
| Amortisation and depreciation | (12.1) | (20.2) |
| Operating profit | 16.5 | 7.2 |
The strategic decisions taken in 2009, such as the launch of Grazia, the concentration of the titles in the auto sector to the joint venture with Axel Springer, the closure of a number of titles and organisational restructuring all had a positive impact on the results of 2010.
Despite strong competition, Grazia confirmed its excellent performance with an average of 35 advertising pages per issue in 2010 and a circulation of 179,032 copies (DSH 2010).
The expansion of the joint venture with Axel Springer in 2009 has already produced its first fruits: with their new formulas, Auto Journal (+5.0%) and Sport Auto (+2.7%) recorded an increase in sales, while circulation remained essentially stable for the weekly Auto Plus (+0.2%), which was re-launched with a new formula at the end of February 2011.
The process of cost cutting that began in previous years, continued during 2010 and focused particularly on industrial and distribution costs and general expenses.
In mid December Mondadori France moved to its new offices in Montrouge; this operation will lead to a marked reduction in rental costs and an improvement in internal organisation, thanks to the concentration of editorial staffs in a single location.
Circulation
Circulation revenues, which include both newsstand sales and subscriptions and account for 69% of the total, were down by 1.3%.
Excluding the titles sold or closed, there was a growth of 3.9%, mainly due to the sales of the weekly Grazia (51 issues compared with 18 in 2009) and strong growth in subscription revenues, the latter representing an important asset (32.5% of magazine turnover in the period) in that they are less exposed to economic cycles.
These results confirm the validity of the strategy of repositioning the portfolio of titles on mass-market titles, launched by the Group in 2007 and accompanied by a policy of continuous improvement in editorial quality.
This result is even more remarkable in the light of the current situation of the magazine sector, and the editorial excellence of our titles has also been recognised by the market, which has awarded the Group ten prizes in the last two years. The editorial quality of the titles of the Mondadori Group can also be seen in the figures published by DFP.
In terms of the number of copies, Mondadori France saw an increase of 1.7% in Diffusion France Payée, while its competitors were down by 2.1%.
This growth was due to the positive result achieved by Grazia and excellent performances by Modes&Travaux (+12.7%), Top Santé (+5.7%), Biba (+4.9%), Science & Vie Junior (+4.1%), Science & Vie (+1.9%) and Cahiers de Science & Vie (+14.1%).
Advertising
With regard to advertising, there was an 8% increase in consolidated revenues compared with the previous year. If the titles sold or closed are excluded, the increase was of 19.1%.
These excellent results are above all due to a marked increase in advertising revenues for the Mondadori France “haut de gamme” women’s titles (the weekly Grazia and the monthly Biba), which now account for 27% of total advertising sales (13% in 2009).
The magazine advertising market in 2010 grew by 9.5% in terms of pages (Source: Kantar Media). In the same period Mondadori France recorded excellent growth of +24.9% in terms of volume and increased its market share by 1.2%. Of particular note was the performance of Grazia (1,796 pages) and the consolidation in its market of reference by the monthly Biba (792 pages, +26%).
These two titles alone accounted for 76% of the growth in volume in 2010.