Portuguese media in profit

 In News

Portuguese media companies are turning the corner from the 2008-2015 crisis with increased revenues and profits.

According to results for the first half of 2018 posted by the three media groups quoted on the Lisbon stock exchange – Cofina, Impresa and Media Capital – profits and receipts were up while debts were reduced by hundreds of millions of euros.

Portugal’s publicity and advertising market is growing again after several years of stagnation although newspaper and magazine circulation continues to fall.

Overall, the companies that own SIC (a TV channel), TVI (TV) and the tabloid newspaper Correio da Manhã saw a tangible growth in profits.

Media Capital, which has the largest market share with TVI made the most profits with net receipts climbing 26% like-for-like to €10.5 million. 

Its direct competitor Impresa, which owns SIC, turned a €2.1 million profit, a clear gain on the €35,000 profit from the same period last year.

However, the profit should be seen in the light of the sale of its magazine portfolio to entrepreneur Luís Delgado at the start of the year for €10.2 million.

Impresa has undertaken an ambitious restructuring plan. After selling the magazine portfolio it will move weekly newspaper Expresso into the same building — a space sold to Novo Banco for €24.2 million which it will rent monthly from the bank on a ten-year lease.

The sale will  help it finance its expansion and pay out a shareholder bond which matures later this year.

Cofina, which owns Correio da Manhã and CNTV increased its profits in the first six months of 2018. The group trebled its net profit to €2.6 million.