M6 Metropole Television: Consolidated Results at 31 December 2022

Consolidated Revenue: €1,356.9 m (-2.4%)

EBITA (exc. govt support): €334.4 m (+2.4%)

Operating Margin (exc. govt support): 24.6% (+1.1 pp)

NEUILLY SUR SEINE, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

M6 Metropole Television (Paris:MMT):

Within an unfavourable economic environment, the Group’s performance was steady, reflecting the success of its strategic refocusing on its core business and its capacity to increase the synergies between its various divisions while also developing its in-house production capabilities.

(€ millions)	2022	2021	% change	2019	% change

Consolidated revenue¹	1,356.9	1,390.4	-2.4%	1,456.1	-6.8%

Group advertising revenue	1,083.6	1,137.4	-4.7%	1,107.9	-2.2%
- of which TV advertising revenue	925.1	975.0	-5.1%	930.4	-0.6%
- of which other advertising revenue	158.5	162.5	-2.4%	177.5	-10.7%
Group non-advertising revenue	273.3	252.9	+8.0%	348.2	-21.5%

Consolidated profit from recurring operations (EBITA)² excluding government support	*334.4*	*326.7*	*+2.4%*	*284.4*	*+17.6%*
Margin from recurring operations	24.6%	23.5%	1.1pt	19.5%	4.0pp
Consolidated profit from recurring operations (EBITA)²	336.2	346.7	-3.0%	284.4	+18.2%

Capital gains/(losses) on asset disposals	(11.0)	55.2	-120.0%	1.0	n.a

Operating income and expenses related to business combinations	(13.2)	(11.3)	-16.7%	(10.5)	-25.5%

Operating profit (EBIT)	312.0	390.5	-20.1%	274.9	+13.5%

Net financial income/(expense)	(0.1)	(1.4)	n.a	(4.6)	n.a

Share of profit/(loss) of joint ventures and associates	(70.7)	(30.9)	n.a	4.5	n.a

Income tax	(75.3)	(77.4)	+2.7%	(101.5)	+25.8%

Net profit from continuing operations	165.9	280.8	-40.9%	173.3	-4.2%
Net profit from discontinued operations	0.0	0.0	n.a	(1.4)	n.a

Net profit for the period	165.9	280.8	-40.9%	171.9	-3.5%

Net profit for the period - Group share	161.5	280.9	-42.5%	171.9	-6.0%

In 2022, M6 Group achieved consolidated revenue of €1,356.9 million, down 2.4% compared with 2021.

The decline in advertising revenues (down 4.7%), within a worsening economic climate, was partly offset by the growth in non-advertising revenues (up 8.0%).

Consolidated profit from recurring operations (EBITA) totalled €336.2 million, compared with €346.7 million in 2021, although that included €20.0 million in government support (€1.8 million in 2022).

Restated for this exceptional item, M6 Group EBITA has reached its highest ever level standing at €334.4 million, compared with €326.7 million in 2021 and €284.4 million in 2019. It also includes €5.4 million in costs related to the proposed M6/TF1 merger (against €8.5 million in 2021).

The Group’s operating margin stood at 24.6% (excluding government support), compared with 23.5% in 2021 and 19.5% in 2019. This growth in profit margin despite the decline in consolidated revenue notably reflects the Group’s flexibility in its cost management, the synergies developed between all its channels and the contribution of Stéphane Plaza Immobilier.

EBIT for the period was €312.0 million, compared with €390.5 million in 2021. In 2021, EBIT included a revaluation capital gain of €52.4 million following its acquisition of a majority shareholding in Stéphane Plaza Immobilier.

Launched on October 20, 2020, Salto currently gathers nearly one million subscribers but once again recorded a significant operating loss of €72.3 million in 2022 (i.e. €24.1 million for M6 share). In the context of the failure of the M6 / TF1 merger project, the three partners of Salto tested possible buyers for the platform, while evaluating the cost of the liquidation of the company which amounts to €66.0 million (i.e. €22.0 million for M6 share).

Thus, the total impact of Salto on the Group's accounts reached -€46.1 million as of December 31, 2022.

In addition, the Group continued to invest in streaming through Bedrock, whose share of net loss stood at €7.9 million in 2022.

M6 Group’s net profit for the period was €165.9 million, compared with €280.8 million in 2021.

In accordance with IFRS 8, the segment reporting of the Group is based on 4 operating segments, whose contribution to consolidated revenue and EBITA was as follows:

	9 months					Q4					FY

(€ millions)	2022	2021	% change	2019	% change	2022	2021	% change	2019	% change	2022	2021	%	2019	% change

TV	746.0	745.1	+0.1%	695.2	+7.3%	323.8	346.6	-6.6%	318.4	+1.7%	1,069.7	1,091.8	-2.0%	1,013.6	+5.5%
Radio	109.1	106.3	+2.6%	118.5	-7.9%	48.5	50.8	-4.6%	52.5	-7.6%	157.6	157.1	+0.3%	171.0	-7.8%
Production & Audiovisual Rights	42.5	42.5	+0.1%	52.1	-18.4%	13.6	18.1	-24.8%	23.0	-40.7%	56.2	60.6	-7.4%	75.1	-25.2%
Other diversification	55.9	58.3	-4.2%	143.1	-61.0%	16.5	21.6	-23.7%	53.0	-68.9%	72.3	79.9	-9.5%	196.1	-63.1%
Other revenue	0.8	0.7	+4.7%	0.2	n.a	0.3	0.3	+13.0%	0.1	n.a	1.1	1.0	+7.1%	0.3	n.a

Consolidated revenue	954.2	953.0	+0.1%	1,009.1	-5.4%	402.6	437.4	-7.9%	446.9	-9.9%	1,356.9	1,390.4	-2.4%	1,456.1	-6.8%

TV	-	-		-		-	-	-	-	-	265.0	286.2	-7.4%	223.6	+18.5%
Radio	-	-		-		-	-	-	-	-	34.1	35.8	-4.6%	30.1	+13.4%
Production & Audiovisual Rights	-	-		-		-	-	-	-	-	13.4	16.4	-18.6%	14.8	-9.7%
Diversification	-	-		-		-	-	-	-	-	21.2	11.1	+90.4%	25.3	-16.2%
Eliminations and unallocated items	-	-		-		-	-	-	-	-	2.5	(2.9)	+187.5%	(9.4)	+126.7%
EBITA	216.9	223.5	-2.9%	182.4	+18.9%	119.3	123.2	-3.1%	102.0	+17.1%	336.2	346.7	-3.0%	284.4	+18.2%

* *

Television

In 2022, Television remained the most popular media, attracting a daily average of 43.3 million viewers³. Individual viewing time totalled 3 hours 24 minutes amongst viewers aged 4 and over, a decline compared with 2021 (3hrs 39min) but at a comparable level to 2019, the baseline year (3hrs 30min).

Against this backdrop, M6 Group pursued its strategy of platformization of its global offer. The popularity of its content was reflected across all formats in 2022:

- A powerful linear TV line-up, with 23 million French viewers tuning in every day to the Group’s channels and an average audience share of 22.3% amongst WRP<50 across the day as a whole.
In the strategic primetime slot (21:10-23:00) which, along with the 20:00-21:00 slot, accounts for almost 60% of the advertising activity, the free-to-air channels (M6, W9, 6ter and Gulli) achieved their best ever figures amongst WRP<50, with a 27% audience share.

- An unmissable AVOD offering with 6play, whose coverage continued to grow with 17 million users per month in 2022. The Group continued to enhance its range of programmes, with exclusive content now making up 16% of 6play’s usage (up 6 pp year-on-year) and whose hours viewed grew by 38% in 2022.

- Influence on social media that continues to grow, with 5 billion videos viewed across all platforms in 2022 for 56,000 posts aimed at promoting M6 Group brands.

Faced with an unfavourable base effect, characterised by the sustained post-Covid recovery in consumer spending, the TV advertising market was impacted in 2022 by the worsening economic environment. This affected the advertising investments of several sectors, which particularly suffered from inflation in the cost of raw materials. Lastly, the Group’s TV advertising activity was impacted by the broadcast of the FIFA World Cup on TF1 in the last quarter, which significantly affected the advertising investments on rival channels.

Against this backdrop, the TV division’s advertising revenues decreased by 5.1% year on year, including a 9.9% decline in the fourth quarter.

TV programming costs fell 4.1% to stand at €495.4 million, compared with €516.6 million in 2021 and €501.3 million in 2019. Faced with a slowdown in the TV advertising market, the necessary reinvestment of the costs of the Euro 2020 in live and on-demand content was restrained.

Excluding government support (€1.8 million in 2022 against €15.7 million in 2021), TV division EBITA totalled €263.2 million, compared with €270.5 million in 2021.

Margin from recurrent operations for the Group’s core business stood at 24.6% excluding government support (compared with 24.9% in 2021 and 22.1% in 2019).

Radio

In 2022, radio retained its power, attracting almost 40 million listeners each day with a still substantial average daily listening time of 2hrs 37mins⁴.

Over the financial year, the Radio Division consolidated its status as France’s leading commercial radio group for live listening, with an audience share of 18.4% among listeners aged 13 and over (up 0.2 pp).

RTL, the leading commercial radio station in France, saw its audience share grow by 0.3 pp to 12.8%.

RTL2’s audience share stood at 3.1% (up 0.1 pp), representing a record high, with Fun Radio’s at 2.5% (down 0.3 pp).

2022 was also marked by the Group’s continued investment in podcast production. The Radio division is thus positioned as the leading commercial radio group in this market, with 32.6 million monthly listens, a year-on-year increase of 10%⁵.

In 2022, revenue from the Group’s Radio division was steady at €157.6 million (up 0.3%), within a stable advertising market.

EBITA totalled €34.1 million, compared with €32.4 million in 2021 (excluding €3.4 million in government support). This growth reflects the Radio operation’s cost control and synergies developed with the TV channels. It should be noted that EBITA totalled €15.5 million in 2017, the year in which the Radio division was acquired from RTL Group.

The Radio division’s margin from recurring operations stood at 21.7% compared with 20.6% in 2021 (excluding government support), 17.6% in 2019 and 9.4% in 2017. Profit margin has therefore more than doubled in five years.

Production and audiovisual rights

Revenue from the Production and Audiovisual Rights division was €56.2 million in 2022, a year-on-year decline of 7.4% primarily due to the decline in SND’s Video activity. This downturn was the result of an unfavourable base effect in the fourth quarter. At the end of 2021, the video releases of Kaamelott: The First Chapter proved highly successful, and had no equivalent in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The number of admissions recorded by SND’s cinema activity was stable in relation to 2021, standing at 6.2 million⁶, thanks in particular to the success of the animated films Fireheart (1.4 million admissions) and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (1.0 million).

Divisional EBITA was €13.4 million, compared with €16.4 million in 2021. This decline was due to the higher number of cinema releases than in 2021 (12 films compared with 8 in 2021), which led to higher related costs (depreciation & amortisation, marketing, etc.).

Diversification

In 2019, Diversification revenue totalled €72.3 million (compared with €79.9 million in 2021).

2022 was marked by the consolidation of Stéphane Plaza Immobilier (€25.1 million) from 1 January, which partially offset the reclassification of M6 Créations in the TV division (€22.9 million in 2021) and the decline in Best of TV’s business, sold on 30 November 2022.

EBITA from Diversifications totalled €21.2 million, compared with €11.1 million in 2021, and benefited from the operational efficiency of Stéphane Plaza Immobilier, whose business model is based on a network of franchised agencies.

* *

Financial position

The Group had shareholders’ equity of €1,204.1 million at 31 December 2022, compared with €1,156.4 million at 31 December 2021.

The Group has a sound cash position, with a net cash surplus of €282.0 million⁷, compared with €248.4 million at 31 December 2021. This increase reflects the cash generated by the Group’s operational activity.

Dividend

Against this backdrop, at the Combined General Meeting called for 25 April 2023 the Executive Board will propose the payment of an unchanged dividend of €1.00 per share with an ex-dividend date of 3 May and a payment date of 5 May 2023.

Governance

Composition of the Executive Board

The Supervisory Board has amended the composition of the Executive Board and appointed five individuals for a term of three years each, namely Nicolas de Tavernost (Chairman), Karine Blouët, Guillaume Charles, Henri de Fontaines and David Larramendy. A specific press release has been issued in this regard.

Composition of the Supervisory Board

Following the resignations of Mouna Sepehri and Jennifer Mullin, at its meeting of 13 February 2023 the M6 Group Supervisory Board made the following appointments to replace them for the remainder of their terms of office:

- The company CMA CGM, represented by Rodolphe Saadé, as an independent member and whose term of office will expire in 2024;

- Ingrid Heisserer, CFO of RTL Deutschland, whose term of office will expire at the next Annual General Meeting.

At the meeting convened on 25 April 2023, shareholders will be asked to approve their appointments and to renew the term of office of Ingrid Heisserer.

They will also be asked to renew the term of office of Siska Ghesquiere (General Counsel and Head of M&A of RTL Group).

The Supervisory Board extended their warmest thanks to Mouna Sepehri and Jennifer Mullin for the quality of their work and their unwavering support for the Group’s development.

CSR commitments

M6 Group has conducted a consultation of all its stakeholders to define its key CSR commitments.

This new action plan is structured around two key pillars: M6 Group as both a media platform and a company. It will be rolled out based on six roadmaps: carbon footprint, eco-production, digital sobriety, anti-waste, equal opportunities and media education.

The various measures introduced in 2022 included the completion of the first carbon assessment across all scopes at Group level and the large-scale development of awareness-raising workshops – climate fresco – to improve employee understanding of the causal links to climate change.

M6 Group also joined the board of trustees of the collective Ecoproduction which helps to provide the audiovisual sector with resources to initiate the necessary environmental transformations and to train employees from the production entities in eco-production practices.

This framework of measures, common to all M6 Group entities, will help to strengthen environmental, corporate and social commitments and unite employees around synergies that will help us to fully address future CSR challenges in the media sector.

Outlook

On 23 January, M6 Group submitted its application to ARCOM to renew its broadcast licence for the M6 channel on DTT for a period of 10 years with effect from 6 May 2023. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.

In addition, since the planned merger between M6 and TF1 Groups was abandoned, the Group is finalising a strategic project, primarily focused on the continuation and acceleration of its streaming projects (AVOD).

Results will be presented to financial analysts in a webcast starting at 18:30 (CET), 13 February 2023, on the Group’s website at www.groupem6.fr
Details on how to access the webcast are available at www.groupem6.fr/Finance
Both the slideshow and annual consolidated financial statements will be available online at 18:00 (CET), it being specified that the audit procedures have been carried out and the Statutory Auditors’ report on the financial statements is being prepared.

Next release: First quarter 2023 financial information: 25 April 2023 before start of trading

M6 Métropole Télévision is listed on Euronext Paris, Compartment A
Ticker: MMT, ISIN Code: FR0000053225

¹ The information provided is intended to highlight the breakdown of consolidated revenue between advertising and non-advertising revenue. Group advertising revenue includes TV advertising revenue (advertising revenue of free-to-air channels M6, W9, 6ter and Gulli, and the platforms 6play and Gulli Replay, as well as the share of advertising revenue from pay channels), the advertising revenue of radio stations RTL, RTL2 and Fun, and the share of advertising revenue generated by diversification activities (mainly Internet).

² Profit from recurring operations (EBITA) is defined as operating profit (EBIT) before amortisation and impairment of intangible assets (excluding audiovisual rights) related to acquisitions and capital gains and losses on the disposal of financial assets and subsidiaries.

³ TV audience data => Source: Médiamétrie

⁴ Radio audience data => Source: Médiamétrie

⁵ In December

⁶ Source: CBO Box Office

⁷ The net cash position at 1 January 2019 does not take into account lease liabilities resulting from the application of IFRS 16 – Leases from 1 January 2019.