Income statement

Revenues fell by CHF 7.6 million compared with the previous year from CHF 453.3 million to CHF 445.7 million. Without the change to the group of consolidated companies (sale of SMG companies in the second half of 2021), revenues would have increased by CHF 47.5 million. Both advertising revenues (CHF +3.1 million or +2.8 per cent, without the change to the group of consolidated companies CHF +9.8 million or +9.5 per cent) and revenues from commercialisation and intermediary activities (CHF +2.2 million or +6.1 per cent) continued to recover in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Revenues from classifieds and services (CHF –19.9 million or –13.9 per cent) would also have increased by CHF 28.1 million without the change to the group of consolidated companies. Revenues from subscriptions and individual sales are down by CHF –5.3 million or –4.4 per cent to CHF 116.0 million. Revenues from print and logistic operations increased, due to the significant increase in paper prices, by a total of CHF 7.0 million or 21.5 per cent to CHF 39.6 million. Other operating revenue is up by CHF 2.7 million or 27.9 per cent to CHF 12.0 million. Other income includes reversed, unused provisions from social plans, the reversal of incoming payments that could not be allocated to any invoice or repaid and other income not material on its own.

The costs of material and services rose by CHF 9.5 million to CHF 77.2 million. Some of the increase in the costs of material can be attributed, in the amount of CHF 11.1 million, to higher expenditure on paper. This rose on account of the significant increase in the price of paper and a slight increase in paper volumes. The lower costs of services are partly attributable to the SMG companies no longer being included in the group of consolidated companies.

Personnel expenses fell by CHF 18.4 million compared with the previous year to CHF 212.5 million. Without the change to the group of consolidated companies (SMG companies no longer included), personnel expense would have increased by CHF 7.8 million. Compensation for reduced working hours in the amount of CHF 5.9 million was still being claimed in the comparison period, which was no longer the case in the first half of 2022. The expenses associated with the profit participation for Group Management and employees increased by CHF 3.5 million. These include additional expenses for payments of an employee bonus for the previous year. Employee benefit expenses as per IAS 19 decreased by CHF 1.7 million compared with the previous year, with this change in employee benefit expenses also including expenses for settling compensation for reduced working hours and for expected social plan benefits.

Other operating expenses rose by CHF 9.1 million to CHF 100.9 million. CHF 3.1 million relates to full repayment of the federal press subsidies received in 2021.

The share of net income / (loss) of associates and joint ventures for the first half of 2022 amounts to CHF 6.4 million, which is down CHF 3.1 million on the first half of 2021. Karriere.at accounts for the biggest contribution and a significant improvement on the previous year (CHF +4.2 million), while SMG Swiss Marketplace Group shows a loss of CHF 7.4 million due to depreciation and amortisation from business combinations.

Depreciation and amortisation increased by CHF 8.5 million from the previous year to CHF 32.8 million. The increase is attributable in particular to depreciation of right-of-use assets from leases, which is attributable in turn to the growth of Neo Advertising, with no material effect to be recorded due to any change to the group of consolidated companies. Depreciation and amortisation from business combinations decreased by CHF 7.7 million to CHF 25.1 million, whereby the effect of the change to the group of consolidated companies amounts to CHF –5.2 million and the further reduction is attributable to customer bases and IT platforms being fully amortised.

In the first half of 2022, the financial result amounts to CHF 1.2 million (previous year: CHF 11.7 million). In the previous year, the now concluded arbitration proceedings against the sellers of Trendsales at the court of arbitration in Copenhagen had a significant impact, with damages of CHF 11.8 million being recorded. As was previously the case in the first half of 2021, no material profit or loss from the sale of investments is to be recognised for 2022 either. Net interest amounts to CHF 1.2 million, exchange rate effects account for CHF –0.7 million and financial income in accordance with IAS 19 amounts to CHF 0.5 million.

The expected average tax rate equals the weighted average of the rates of the consolidated companies. This is 14.0 per cent for the first half of 2022 (previous year: 19.4 per cent). Both positive and negative results for the individual companies feed into the calculation for the expected tax rate, taking into account the applicable tax rates in each case, therefore resulting in a lower expected tax rate compared with the previous year.

The effective tax rate increased from 21.7 per cent in the first half of 2021 to 79.1 per cent in the first half of 2022. The main reasons for this divergence from the expected tax rate are the impact of investment deductions and other non-taxable income, tax effects on investments and unrecognised deferred tax assets relating to loss carryforwards. Unrecognised deferred tax assets on tax loss carryforwards result from the estimate that, based on their income situation, the relevant companies do not fulfil the prerequisites for the realisation of losses.