EQS-News: Bastei Lübbe AG reports successful Christmas business and raises forecast for financial year 2023/2024

Bastei Lübbe AG reports successful Christmas business and raises forecast for financial year 2023/2024
 

• Bastei Lübbe continues successful business development of previous quarters
• Community models and audio formats as growth drivers
• Group revenue expected to be between €109 million and €111 million (previously €100 million to €105 million)
• EBIT forecast revenue-driven increased again to a range of €12.5 million to €13.5 million (previously: €10 million to €11 million)

Cologne, 8 January 2024. Bastei Lübbe AG (ISIN DE000A1X3YY0), a general-interest publisher listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, continued the successful business development of the previous quarters in the Christmas business and recorded further profitable growth. As a result, the Company raises its revenue forecast despite macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges and again increases its EBIT forecast for the financial year 2023/2024.

Community models and audio formats are sustainable growth drivers

Especially the community-driven business models in the New and Young Adult segment, as well as the digital audio offering, continue to record strong revenue growth. The publishing brand Community Editions, which specializes in publications by social media artists, is also contributing to the positive development with the successful launch of the new online store “humble but bold”. In addition, the attractive program in the Christmas business is clearly noticeable, especially with bestsellers such as “The Armour of Light” by Ken Follett, “Das Dritte Herz des Oktopus” by Dirk Rossmann and Ralf Hoppe and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid 18” by Jeff Kinney.

Soheil Dastyari, CEO of Bastei Lübbe AG: „Bastei Lübbe's strategic focus as a progressive full-service publisher on various entertainment genres, offerings for all age groups and a wide variety of media channels as well as our strong footholds in the digital business are paying off. As a result, we have not only stayed on course in difficult times – we have also gained considerable momentum when visibility improved.“

Forecast increase for financial year 2023/2024

As a result of the successful Christmas business and the attractive program in all channels, the Executive Board now expects consolidated revenue of between €109 million and €111 million for the 2023/2024 financial year (previous year: €100.0 million) compared to the previously communicated revenue forecast of €100 million to €105 million. The EBIT forecast has been raised again, driven by revenues, and is now expected to range between €12.5 million and €13.5 million (previous year: €7.2 million). In the previous forecast increase for the 2023/2024 financial year, the Executive Board had assumed an EBIT of between €10 million and €11 million, compared to the originally communicated EBIT forecast of €9 million to €10 million.

Mathis Gerkensmeyer, CFO of Bastei Lübbe AG: “Especially the above-average digital share compared to the sector as a whole and the steadily growing share of community-driven business models with loyal audiences continue to be strong revenue drivers and are now developing even better than expected. Thanks to the great commitment of our teams, we are growing with increasing profitability and are able to compensate for macroeconomic challenges.”

The interim report for the first nine months of the 2023/2024 financial year will be published on 8 February 2024 and will be available online at https://bastei-luebbe.de/en/company/investor-relations/financial-reports from this date.

About Bastei Lübbe AG:

Bastei Lübbe AG is a German general-interest publisher based in Cologne, specialising in the publication of books, audio books and e-books featuring fiction and popular science content. The company’s core business also includes the periodically published novel booklets. With a total of fifteen imprints, the group currently offers several thousand titles in the fields of fiction, non-fiction and children’s and young people’s books. In the growing segment of hardcover fiction, the company has been one of the market leaders in Germany for many years. At the same time, Bastei Lübbe is a driver of innovation in digital media and exploitation channels through the production of thousands of audio and e-books among other things.

With annual revenues of around €100 million (2022/2023 financial year), Bastei Lübbe AG is one of the largest medium-sized companies in the German publishing industry. Its shares have been listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN A1X3YY, ISIN DE000A1X3YY0) since 2013. Further information can be found at www.bastei-luebbe.de.

Contact Bastei Lübbe AG:

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