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Madrid (pte032/21.02.2005/14:30) - Spanish media company Promotora de Informaciones, otherwise known as Prisa http://www.prisa.es , has announced that its fourth-quarter net profit more than doubled as an advertising boom lifted sales at its flagship newspaper and radio stations. As the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) http://www.wsj.com reports, the company's net profit has jumped to 27.1 million euros from 13 million euros in the year-earlier quarter. Earnings were also buoyed by a lower tax bill. Sales increased by 7.9 per cent to 340 million euros. For the whole of 2004, net income climbed 70 per cent to 103.3 million euros from 60.6 million euros, on a 10 per cent increase in sales to 1.43 billion euros from 1.3 billion euros.
Apart from El Pais, Madrid-based Prisa has interests in radio and publishing in Spain and Latin America, and a 23.6 per cent stake in Spanish pay-TV company Sogecable. Most of the improvement in operating earnings came from El Pais, Spain's best-selling newspaper. The paper has benefited from continued growth in Spain's advertising market, fuelled by an economy expanding well above the average rate for euro-zone countries. "There are signs that advertising is growing faster than expected in all sectors, with faster growth in radio and El Pais," said Juan Luis Cebrian, the company's chief executive. It is possible that the pace of the ad market in the first quarter of the year will be greater than in the first quarter of 2004," he added.
According to Cebrian, the Spanish advertising market grew 6 per cent in 2004, and he expects Prisa's advertising revenue to increase by five percentage points over the market in 2005. Prisa's advertising sales grew 11 per cent to 533.1 million euros and accounted for around 38 per cent of total revenue last year. As the WSJ reports, other Spanish media companies have released strong figures for 2004 and bullish forecasts for the first weeks of the year, suggesting the ad market will remain robust in 2005. El Pais' full-year revenue increased by almost a third. According to Cebrian, Prisa is committed to its strategy of international expansion, and is in direct talks to increase its stake in Le Monde, the company that directly owns France's top newspaper. No offer has yet been made. Prisa is also looking for Portuguese partners for a joint purchase of Lusomundo Servicos, one of Portugal's largest media groups, Cebrian said.
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