Bastei Lübbe continues on its profitable growth trajectory and even exceeds the already upward adjusted earnings forecast for 2023/2024

• 10.3 percent increase in Group revenues to EUR 110.3 million
• Group EBIT almost doubled, rising to EUR 14.0 million
• Increase in EBIT margin to 12.7 percent (previous year: 7.2 percent)
• Dividend of 30 cent per share proposed (previous year: 16 cent)
• Positive outlook for the 2024/2025 financial year: further growth expected with a sustained double-digit EBIT margin

Cologne, 16 July 2024. Bastei Lübbe AG (ISIN DE000A1X3YY0), a general-interest publisher listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, has published its audited figures for its 2023/2024 financial year today. In a persistently challenging macroeconomic environment characterised by inflation and consumer restraint, the company succeeded in boosting its revenues by EUR 10.3 million to EUR 110.3 million (previous year: EUR 100.0 million). This means that Bastei Lübbe exceeded its original revenue forecast of EUR 100 – 105 million, easily reaching the range of EUR 109 – 111 million revised upwards in January 2024. All marketing channels contributed to this growth.

Group EBIT was also better than expected, almost doubling to EUR 14.0 million (previous year: EUR 7.2 million; before one-off effects: EUR 9.9 million). This exceeded both the original full-year forecast of EUR 9.0 – 10.0 million and the forecast of EUR 12.5 – 13.5 million that had been adjusted in January 2024. The EBIT margin widened to 12.7 percent (previous year: 7.2 percent; before one-off effects: 9.9 percent), thus returning to the targeted double-digit range.

“Our path entailing active communities, the expansion of our digital businesses and the consistent focus on high-quality, popular entertainment for diverse groups of readers has delivered a consistently strong performance, offering unabated potential. The current figures are a strong testament to the favourable performance of our diversified business strategy and our targeted growth opportunities,” said Soheil Dastyari, CEO of Bastei Lübbe AG, commenting on the company’s performance in the financial year.

Growth driven by community models

Revenues in the success-relevant Book segment increased from EUR 92.8 million to EUR 102.9 million. In addition to an attractive catalogue across the board, this was particularly underpinned by the success of the community-driven new adult imprint LYX, whose revenues rose by 16.0 percent. Revenues in the children’s and young people’s book sector, including Baumhaus Verlag and the community label ONE also climbed by 18.8 percent. In audio business, total revenues expanded again by 11.3 percent despite the sustained decline in revenues from audiobook CDs. This reflects the extraordinarily successful marketing of downloaded and streamed content. The disproportionately large share by industry standards of digital business in revenues of EUR 33.0 million (previous year: EUR 31.7 million) grew at a slower rate, falling below the 30 percent mark (2023/2024: 29 percent; 2022/2023: 32 percent). This is also due to the generally lower proportion of digital business in the community-driven business models. The contribution to revenues made by the community-driven business models widened again to 35 percent (previous year: 33 percent), mainly due to the successes of the LYX, ONE and Community Editions imprints. Thanks to these developments, EBIT in the Book segment improved significantly and, at EUR 13.0 million, was substantially higher than in the previous year (EUR 7.0 million).

At EUR 7.4 million, revenues in the Novel Booklets segment proved to be very stable despite the ongoing reduction in the number of press retail outlets and even slightly exceeded the previous year’s figure of EUR 7.2 million. EBIT also increased significantly year-on-year to EUR 1.0 million (previous year: EUR 0.2 million), reflecting the decline in the cost of goods sold.

Revenue growth and improved costs driving profitability

Costs stabilised significantly in the 2023/2024 financial year. Thus, the increase in the cost of materials to EUR 55.9 million (previous year: EUR 50.8 million) was solely attributable to higher revenues. The cost of materials ratio remained stable at the previous year’s level. Personnel expenses increased to EUR 21.5 million (previous year: EUR 20.2 million), which is a below-average increase. Other operating expenses climbed slightly in the year under review by EUR 1.1 million, rising from EUR 18.6 million to EUR 19.7 million primarily as a result of higher IT expenses and increased advertising and marketing costs. Amortisation and depreciation fell from EUR 5.4 million in the previous year to EUR 3.6 million in the year under review. This reduction is mainly due to the absence of the impairments of EUR 2.7 million that had been recognised in the previous year on the assets attributable to smarticular.

EBIT thus improved significantly to EUR 14.0 million in the 2023/2024 financial year, up from EUR 7.2 million in the previous year. Group earnings before taxes came to EUR 13.3 million in the year under review (previous year: EUR 6.8 million). After income taxes of EUR 4.5 million (previous year: EUR 2.8 million), Group net profit for the year reached EUR 8.8 million (previous year: EUR 4.0 million). Of this, EUR 8.7 million (previous year: EUR 3.9 million) is attributable to the equity holders of Bastei Lübbe AG. This translates into earnings per share of EUR 0.66, up from EUR 0.30 in the previous year.

Cash flow from operating activities contracted from EUR 10.4 million in the previous year to EUR 2.7 million. This is primarily attributable to high income tax payments in tandem with the substantially higher group net profit for the year. At EUR 4.2 million, free cash flow (cash flow from operating activities plus cash flow from investing activities) fell far short of the previous year (EUR 9.7 million) but was well above the forecast of EUR -0.5 – 0.5 million. This primarily reflects the Group’s strong operating earnings.

The Group’s net assets are characterised by a significant shift from non-current to current assets. Non-current assets fell to EUR 48.5 million, down from EUR 56.1 million as of 31 March 2023, chiefly as a result of the higher depreciation of author advances. Author advances dropped from EUR 23.9 million to EUR 19.6 million. Current assets climbed by EUR 3.6 million, rising from EUR 51.8 million to EUR 55.5 million. This was mainly attributable to the increase in trade receivables as a result of higher revenues in the financial year. Total assets stood at EUR 103.9 million at the end of the 2023/2024 financial year (previous year: EUR 107.9 million). At EUR 61.3 million (previous year: EUR 54.8 million), the proportion of equity attributable to the equity holders of the parent company resulted in a significant increase in the equity ratio to 59.2 percent (previous year: 51.0 percent).

“Our measures to boost profitability have paid off. We are growing profitably on a broad basis and are able to operate from a position of financial strength. Given our excellent operating position across all business areas of the company, we are confident that we can maintain and further improve the significantly increased level in our financial metrics in the long term,” adds Mathis Gerkensmeyer, Chief Financial Officer of Bastei Lübbe AG.

Dividend of 30 cent per share proposed

For the past financial year, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting on September 11, 2024, an increase in the dividend from 16 cent to 30 cent per share, which corresponds to 45 percent of the distributable profit and thus remains within the communicated range (40 to 50 percent).

Further growth planned in tandem with stable profitability

Thanks to strong digital business and the optimised upscaling of marketing activities for the community-driven business models as well as attractive inlicensing, Bastei Lübbe has created the basis for further growth. In particular, the community models will generate overarching opportunities and potential that can be successfully harnessed by working closely with the authors together with a communication policy that takes the community’s interests into account. In this way, the individual imprint itself represents a seal of quality. Bastei Lübbe plans to introduce modern variants of community-driven models and, above all, to address and develop the needs and wishes of readers seeking exciting and emotional entertainment through digital channels in particular. The latest imprint pola illustrates this strategy.

The Executive Board projects revenues of EUR 111 – 115 million for the 2024/2025 financial year. Of this, the Book segment will account for EUR 104 – 107 million (year under review: EUR 102.9 million) and the Novel Booklets segment for EUR 6.5 – 7.5 million (year under review: EUR 7.4 million). Group EBIT in the 2024/2025 financial year is expected in a range of EUR 13.0 – 14.0 million, translating into a substantially double-digit EBIT margin of 11 – 12 percent. The target EBIT for the Book segment is EUR 12.5 – 13.5 million (year under review: EUR 13.0 million). EBIT in the Novel Booklets segment should come in at around EUR 0.5 million (year under review: EUR 1.0 million).

Bastei Lübbe AG’s annual report for the 2023/2024 financial year is available at www.bastei-luebbe.de.

About Bastei Lübbe AG:

Bastei Lübbe AG is the leading independent publishing group in Germany. The company, based in Cologne, focuses on the publication of books, audiobooks, and eBooks with high-quality popular entertainment, as well as periodically released serialized novels. The company comprises fifteen publishing brands in total. Bastei Lübbe positions itself as an innovation driver in the industry and has successfully established several rapidly growing community-driven business models. In the field of digital media, Bastei Lübbe AG is also a pioneer, producing thousands of audio and eBooks that are distributed through all digital channels. The AG generates annual revenue of over 110 million euros (financial year 2023/2024). Since 2013, the company's shares have been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (GSIN A1X3YY, ISIN DE000A1X3YY0). Further information can be found at https://bastei-luebbe.de/en.

Contact Bastei Lübbe AG:

Barbara Fischer
Head of Press and Public Relations
Phone: +49 (0)221 8200 2850
E-Mail: barbara.fischer@luebbe.de