23-02-2011

Rising Annual Revenues Help Offset CME Fourth Quarter Loss

By FNE Staff

    HAMILTON, BERMUDA: Central European Media Enterprises (CME, www.cetv-net.com) turned around its performance in 2010, going from a 2009 loss of 97.2 million to net income of 100.2 million in 2010. Fourth quarter results, which were also announced on 23 February, included a net loss of 26.1 million, a substantial improvement over 2009's fourth quarter loss of 55.3 million.

    Net revenues grew $23 million in the fourth quarter, compared with Q4 2009, to $257.4 million. Net revenues for 2010 grew $55.2 million, to a total of $737.1 million.

    Growth was constant in CME's new operations in Bulgaria, Slovenia, CME's new media segment, and Media Pro Entertainment. Operations in Romania and Slovakia saw the largest percentage of decline, while the Czech Republic and Croatia saw modest declines.

    Adrian Sarbu, President and Chief Executive Officer of CME, said in a statement, "In the fourth quarter our sales and OIBDA increased as a result of the restructuring of our broadcasting business and the start of recovery in certain markets. 2010 was our first year of operating as a fully vertically integrated media company. We now run six leading broadcast operations, an integrated content division, Media Pro Entertainment, and a rapidly growing New Media segment. In 2011 we expect all our markets to recover. Our priority is to deliver growth in revenues, OIBDA and free cash flow."

    CME operates TV stations in a territory of some 50 million people in Bulgaria (bTV, bTV Cinema, bTV Comedy, bTV Action and Ring.bg), Croatia (Nova TV and Doma), the Czech Republic (TV Nova, Nova Cinema, Nova Sport and MTV Czech), Romania (PRO TV, PRO TV International, Acasa, PRO Cinema, Sport.ro and MTV Romania), the Slovak Republic (TV Markíza and Doma) and Slovenia (POP TV, Kanal A and POP Brio). CME is traded on the NASDAQ and the Prague Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CETV".

    CME stock rose by $1.26, closing on 23 February 2011 at $19.22, on a day when the NASDAQ fell by 1.21%.

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