ZURICH (Thomson Financial) - Tamedia AG said first half net profit dropped to 51.2 mln sfr from 52.3 mln in the year earlier period, amid higher investments into new media projects.
The Swiss media group's bottom line thus met analyst's forecast which saw net profit coming in at 49.4-54.8 mln sfr or 51.12 mln on average.
Looking ahead, Tamedia said it sees the economic environment continuing to improve.
EBIT in the period rose by 2.5 pct to 64.4 mln sfr with the margin dropping to 17.3 pct from 17.8 pct last year.
Meanwhile, sales experienced a more significant rise of 5.5 pct to 373.0 mln sfr from 353.7 mln sfr last year with the increase broadly based on all divisions.
The group missed analysts consensus forecasts, which saw EBIT coming in at 66.2 mln sfr and sales at 385.2 mln sfr.
In the reporting period, Tamedia has made significant investments into its daily free newspaper 20 Minuten and has launched four additional regional editions of its flagship paper Tagesanzeiger.
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