CME posts record growth

US-based group Central Media European (CME), owner of the TV channels PRO TV, Acasa TV, PRO Cinema, PRO TV International and Sport.ro, has reported a 38% increase in its business in Romania for the second quarter of the year, to 52.2 million dollars. In the first half of the year, revenues amounted to 91.5 million dollars, up 35%. The company’s EBITDA (Earnings Before Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) stood at 22.53 million dollars in the second quarter, up 37%, while EBITDA for the first six months of the year stood at 37.66 million dollars, a 34% increase on the first half of 2006. CME, which owns television channels in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Ukraine, posted operating income of 87 million dollars in the second quarter of the year, up 38% against the same time last year and 127 million dollars for the six months as a whole, up 32% against the same period last year. CME’s total revenues stood at 216.28 million dollars for the second quarter of the year and at 364.19 million dollars halfway through the year. “Five of our six markets continued to deliver record performances in the second quarter, as shown by the 38% EBITDA increase over the same period last year. While we were disappointed with the EBITDA performance of Studio 1+1 in Ukraine, we are convinced that within the next few years Ukraine will become our largest market,” Michael Garin, CEO of CME said yesterday, in a report on the results of the media group.