Metropole Television SA

F:MMT

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q2

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening, and welcome to this presentation of the First Half 2022 Groupe M6 Financial Results. I will give the floor to Mr. Nicolas de Tavernost, Chairman of the Executive Board. You have the floor, sir.

[Nicolas de Tavernost, executive]

Good afternoon, one and all. Thank you for coming to this presentation or rather for listening to this presentation for the first half. Business for the group was good on the first half of the year, especially with operating margin, excluding one-offs, nonrecurring items, which was 24.9%, plus 1.3 percentage points over 1 year and at a high level for the group. Consolidated revenues reached EUR 664 million, plus 3% compared to H1 2021, mostly driven by non-advertising revenues. Non-advertising revenues which grew by 15.7%, which benefited from a recovery in the cinema business, which were closed for the first 4 months of 2021 and the consolidation of Stéphane Plaza Immobilier from the first of January this year.

Advertising revenues were stable at EUR 530.1 million for radio, TV or digital. Consolidated EBITA stood at EUR 161.1 million versus EUR 165 million for H1 '21, which included EUR 1 million in audiovisual tax credit, residual tax credit for the half year versus nearly EUR 17 million, EUR 16.9 million precisely, in public subsidies for H1 2021, and EUR 5.3 million in costs related to the projected merger with TF1 versus EUR 4.2 million in H1 '21.

Restated for these various one-offs, EBITA reaches EUR 165.4 million, up 8.6% over 1 year, reflecting the agility of the group and its management of all of its cost base in spite of increasing programming costs and the contribution of Stéphane Plaza Immobilier.

In the first half of 2021, the group carried on investing in streaming, especially via Bedrock and Salto. The tax burden, which includes the corporate tax rate from -- dropped from 28.41% to 25.83% includes an increase of EUR 13 million versus EUR 21 million, which included a refund of tax payments for fiscal year 2020, the year of COVID. So a minus EUR 16 million refund.

Net income is EUR 94.4 million versus EUR 119.3 million in H1 '21, especially because of that increased tax burden. In H1 '22, the average viewing time for TV is 3 hours, EUR 22 million for the whole audience, a decline of EUR 7 million compared to precrisis levels of H1 2019. I will often compare us to 2019, which is the real benchmark. 2020 was marked by COVID, and 2021 was an exceptional year of recovery after the COVID in the first 4 months of the year and a recovery in business, which reflected into advertising revenues. So the true benchmark is 2019. The decline is more marked for women responsible for purchases, it reaches minus 33 minutes compared to H1 '19.

Similarly, the viewing time for other users, including SVOD, grew by 21 minutes on the commercial target. This quick shift in -- from linear viewing to nonlinear viewing reminds us of the need to accelerate the strengthening of our French quality content, both for linear and streaming content.

In view of the diversity in modes of consumption, M6 Group is anchoring its offering in all markets for all 4 screens. The viewing time for TV is 3 hours 16 minutes for the whole audience. It is the most widely consumed medium. But for the 15 to 34 years old, all other users, social media, Internet, video games dominate with 3 hours 6 minutes of average viewing time versus 1 hour 19 minutes for TV, linear TV. 1 hour 12 minutes for YouTube and 48 minutes for SVOD platforms.

Given this diversification in consumption modes, Groupe M6 is routing its offers in all markets. We are present in linear TV with our free-to-air and pay-TV channels, AVOD with 6play, SVOD with Salto, and we've signed an agreement with Facebook and Snapchat social media to increase the exposure of our media to the younger generations.

In a context with the Winter Olympics, the war in Ukraine and the French elections, that was in favor of public channels, given the sporting events and all news channels and with a difficult base effect with the Euro 2020, which was broadcast in 2021, the 4 free-to-air channels in -- for the M6 Groupe had an average audience share of 13.9% for the whole audience and 22.4% on women responsible for purchases under 50 with a 0.7 percentage point decline compared to the previous year. In this context, our channels are more attractive on the strategic primetime slots, 9:00 to 11:00 p.m., with its best half year ever on the commercial target for primetime with 27.2% audience share cumulative, up 0.7 percentage points.

In H1 '22, the M6 channel was, once again the French people's favorite channel, still as powerful in primetime with an audience share of 19.4% on the commercial target. The legacy entertainment brands are still creating a traction with Mariés at first site (sic) [ Mariés au Premier ], best record audience with 32% audience share on women responsible for purchases and 3 million viewers on average. Top Chef, 3 million viewers on average, 27% audience share. On the commercial target of Pékin Express, 2.6 million viewers, 26% audience share on the commercial target. The channel was able to innovate with the successful launch of a new reality TV magazine, Mission Travaux. Amongst the new brands, it has confirmed its success in its second season with 19% audience share on the commercial target. And above all, 31% for the 15 to 34 age group. This channel will come back for a third season next year.

The channel aims to carry on investing in the premium events. And in the first time in its history, it will broadcast the Champions League Finals for the first time ever. Our results were satisfactory for DTT. W9 is #2 on women responsible for purchases, Gulli and 6ter grew by 0.2 percentage points versus H1 2021.

These are the favorites. The nation's favorite DTT channel, W9 is the #1 for sport with the broadcasting of matches for Europa League and Europa Conference League, the first for this fiscal year. Also on recurring access primetime magazines and the #1 channel on reality TV also in access primetime. 6ter is also the leading new generation DTT channel on women under 50 with good daytime programs and the strengthening in its drama offering in primetime with 18 movies with over 500,000 viewers. Gulli is the #1 channel for children or age group 4 to 10 after school and its audience share is growing with women responsible for purchases under 50, with its repositioning with Gulli Prime for a more family-type audience and not just children.

The pay TV channels for M6 Group are also comforting their positions as the leaders for pay TV. Paris Première is still the most viewed pay TV channel, 11.1 million viewers every month. And Teva is growing by 17% on its core target, women responsible for purchases on H1 2022. 6play is growing successfully in AVOD with an extended exclusive content dedicated offer on top of linear programming. Every 1/3 viewer is consuming exclusive content. And this share of viewing grew by 44% over 1 year. In total, 6play is now offering over 4,000 hours of AVOD content. This AVOD success is coming from the acquisition -- content acquisition. Now we have 24 million hours, that's 10% of average viewing. And our enlargement of our AVOD platform is virtuous and it complements the advertising revenues, and we have double-digit growth in advertising revenues in H1 2022. The radio branch, the leading private group is growing. Strong growth for RTL, especially for RTL2. Radio is still dominating with 57%, that's the public group, versus 30% for music on-demand streaming. For radio, RTL is the leading private group with growth in H1 '22 and 18.2% audience share. RTL is the leading private station in France, plus 0.4%. And RTL2 is growing by -- with 3.1% in audience share. It's now catching up to Europe1 in the latest polls. Fun Radio is down at 2.4%, but it's concentrating on its target. In summary, we can say that the radio branch is doing a good half. It has followed public group progresses, but you need to know that the public group benefits from means that have nothing to do with the private radio group of RTL, be it in terms of broadcasting, in terms of human resources, in terms of funding. So competition is not equal between the private radio groups and the public group of radio France that benefits from means that have nothing to do with the private groups.

The good performance of RTL are explained by its increase in the Matin avec, the share is 13.8%. That is a key program between 7:00 and 9:00 in the morning, which is primetime for radio. And they will have a new -- again, Calvi for the Matin avec, the morning show, and in very original [ Duro ] that will start in September, at the end of August more precisely.

The group is continuing the development of its nonlinear context with more than 32 million listening times, RTL is the first radio group. As I was saying by the way, advertising revenue are stable versus the first half. The advertising activity was penalized by a negative base effect in the second half. It had been supported by the broadcasting of 8 matches of Euro 2020 and the recovery of the advertising market in April 2021.

In the first half, advertising revenue are growing by 0.3%, thanks to 6play. Regarding radio, the advertising activity has recovered in the second quarter after a difficult beginning of the year. The revenues of the TV branch are slightly up, plus 0.8% on a like-for-like basis, whereas advertising revenue growing by 0.3%. The programming cost is EUR 240 million versus EUR 237 million and EUR 241.9 million in the first half of 2019, which is the reference. There were no expenditures related to the Youth brand acquired in the second half.

The recovery of investment in linear and nonlinear is controlled. The programming cost remains under its levels before the crisis. TV activity represents EUR 129 million in the EBITA consolidated. Excluding the expenditures related to the merger, EBITA grows by 3.1%. Outside of those nonrecurring elements, the margin of TV is 25.3% versus 24.8% in the first half of 2021.

I'm now going to give the floor to Jérôme Lefébure, who is going to continue with radio activity. And outside of broadcasting activities, he will tell you more about the consolidated accounts in the first half.

[Jérôme Lefébure, executive]

Regarding radio, we have continued our efforts to control cost with revenues of EUR 74.6 million, slightly up 2.1% versus the first half '21 without having met the level of before COVID EBITA. EBITA, EUR 13.3 million versus EUR 14.4 million. The figure that included EUR 3.4 million of public aids. Outside of public aids, the operating margin is increasing, reaching 17.9% versus 15.1% in the first half. That represents optimized cost control and the synergies developed with the other medias of the group.

Regarding audiovisual rights and production, strong growth in revenue, EUR 26.7 million, up 34.8% in a year, thanks to the recovery of the movie activity and the full opening of theaters in 2022. Whereas in 2021, we had half year closed. This SND has used this in large exposure to produce 4 movies throughout the half of the year versus 2 in the beginning of 2021, a total of 2.5 million admissions versus 1.34 million in animation film, Vaillante, and 0.5 million for Maigret. EBITA is EUR 12.2 million versus EUR 11.9 million in the first half of 2021. It benefits from sustained consumption of the rights catalogue detained by SND.

Finally, diversification. The revenue of that segment reaches EUR 36.1 million versus EUR 29 million in the first half of '21. We stated for M6 creation, which is now in the TV branch since it is doing most of its activity for television. The first half of 2022 was marked by the consolidation of Stéphane Plaza Immobilier since January 1, bringing EUR 11.4 million in revenues. The activity of this subsidiary is increasing, thanks to the increase in the number of contracts signed with all agencies.

There's also M6 interaction where the figure is going up. On a like-for-like basis, the EBITA diversification reaches EUR 8.3 million versus EUR 4.7 million in the first half of '21. The operating margin of diversification is increasing, thanks to the integration of SPI and reached 22.9%, close to the group standards.

Let me take a few minutes to tell you about the accounts and the financial statements of the group at the end of this first half 2022. I will not tell you about the top of the income statement until EBITA. Just a few comments on the bottom of the income statement. You know that last year we had had a capital gain for the sale of M6 Hosting, EUR 3 million in '21. We didn't have such operation in '22. Hence, the difference.

The important line is the share of the income in joint ventures and associated enterprise. You will see that this year we have a negative contribution of EUR 20.5 million versus EUR 17.4 million last year related to our continued investments in Salto, Bedrock and the JV Academy on e-learning, but it won't be much for this first half.

Finally, an important line for the comparison of performances. Nicolas made comments about that already, but '21 had benefited from a favorable tax operation for 2020, EUR 16 million, meaning that we had EUR 27 million to pay instead of EUR 43 million. This year, we have a tax burden that corresponds to the new tax rate notably with the complementary income from Stéphane Plaza. This is why the net income is going down mainly because of the taxes.

Regarding the balance sheet. The balance sheet did not evolve significantly in the first half of the year, except for the payment of the dividend and the variation of the WCR, which you will find on the next page in the cash flow statement for a cash flow capability in line with the previous years. In 2022, we have EUR 43 million versus EUR 9 million in 2021.

On top of that, you have to talk about the tax effects. At the same time, the 2022 dividend was lower than 2021 by EUR 68 million, which has limited the drop in cash by EUR 92 million. So much for the cash statement, and I'll give the floor back to Nicolas.

[Nicolas de Tavernost, executive]

Thank you, Jérôme. So this first half is marked by a good activity, a significant margin rate despite the drop in viewing times and the absence of major sports events on our channels.

The summer will be constrained by the fact that we -- this year, we have no sports events, and there's a negative base effect. Some sectors are in a position of wait and see, especially given the inflation. Reservations for the fall are quite decent. Nevertheless, we have to pay attention to the economic context to make sure that those reservations are indeed confirmed. And overall, the year should be relatively positive but we have to pay attention to a number of elements.

Jérôme and I are ready to answer any questions you may have on this first half and the prospects for the second.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We have first question from Mr. Jérôme Bodin from ODDO BHF.

[Jérôme Bodin, analyst]

First question on advertising. Could you tell us advertising trends? Could you give us your view on the return of advertisers that you were discussing? What's the current mindset for advertisers? Are they rather trying to postpone their costs or investing? It's a bit difficult to understand the logic followed by advertisers. So I'd like to have your feedback on that.

Second question on the merger with TF1. According to the press, the Competition Authority was supposed to file a first pre-report at the end of last week. We wanted to know whether you were made aware of it. Could you communicate about that? On the press release you published tonight, it's mentioning forthcoming communication, which is fairly cryptic from the outside. So could you tell a bit more on that? When -- as soon when is that? Is that since September or during the summer? That was my second question.

And thirdly, on the mindset in terms of programming costs for September, you talked about a decent level of orders. What does that also mean in terms of programming costs?

[Nicolas de Tavernost, executive]

Yes, thank you for this question. Well in order on the mindset for our clients. Well, their frame of mind depends on the current context as it is in the economy. Regarding advertising, for radio advertising, we have good business, especially because in order to defend promotions and purchasing power, radio is a very responsive medium. Secondly, we still have good trends on digital. There's a lot of demand, especially for 6play.

And thirdly, regarding the summer. I said, this summer won't be quite out there with what we had last year. First, we don't have any major sporting events this summer and we can feel that they want to focus their investments on what is less significant. So the level of bookings is decent for after the summer, but, however, as long as the bookings have not been turned into firm orders, we have to remain cautious given the economic context in which we are operating. That's for our clients. Well, we want to give more details, but there are some sectors which are following different trends.

Regarding the cost base for H2. On this cost base, it will remain under control. There won't be any significant sporting events in H2 either. There will be 1 French soccer team match in September, that's it. No qualifiers or friendly matches to prepare for the World Cup in Qatar, which we had in the past, and we all have a controlled cost base with quite a few new programs on our channels. So this is a nominal phase without any major sporting events.

Regarding the projected merger between TF1 and M6, I will keep my comments for the end of this Q&A as soon as I've collected all questions together.

[Operator]

We have another question by Julien Roch from Barclays.

[Julien Roch, analyst]

My first question, well, in fact, I'll double up with Jérôme's question. On the ad market, a summer under constraint, not quite up there. That means negative figures probably, that's what it suggests. But what is the depth of the effect? Is that better than double-digit decline? Or is it not that great for July, August?

And you've just said that we'll get some comments on the merger when you've had all questions, but I have roughly the same questions as Jérôme before me. I would add that there was an article in La Parisienne quoting a few people saying that the merger would not go along. So what about the interim reports? What can you say about the smoke coming out? Is it white or black on advertising and the merger?

[Nicolas de Tavernost, executive]

Thank you, Julien, for these very precise questions, as usual. Well, the summer is not the biggest period for advertising business in television. I'm only talking about television here. It so happens that the summer is not over yet, bookings are not complete, we still have August to deliver. So we'll take stock when August is over. That's what I can say. So it's not favorable, especially there was a good summer last year. For the euro matches in July, which is not the case. So we are having a poor summer, but it's not a disaster either as you could imagine. And regarding the merger, I'll address that at the end of the Q&A.

[Julien Roch, analyst]

Right. Thank you for keeping the success. The suspense is very high.

[Operator]

We have another question by Mr. Christophe Cherblanc from Societe Generale.

[Christophe Cherblanc, analyst]

Yes, I had several questions. The first one was about programming costs. You were referring to 2019, which makes sense. The EUR 501 million in programming costs we had in 2019 did not include the Lagardere channels up until September, I think. So I simply wanted to have a rough idea of the figure, trying to add -- to get a pro forma 2019. So what figure should we add for Lagardere?

The second question was about Stéphane Plaza. I can understand from what Jérôme disclosed that it's contributed for about EUR 4 million roughly. I had in mind that it was rather EUR 12 million to EUR 13 million on an annual basis. Is it because EBIT is down or because it's a very seasonal business?

And the third question was about WCR. There was a reversal in WCR after the very good performance last year. Should we expect something similar for the full 12 months or maybe better performance in H2?

And lastly, about the context. There's a lot of controversy about the end of the TV license, the redevance. Are you afraid that it's just a trick and there will be a specific tax introduced or a change in the access of the public sector to the advertising? Are you immune from any bad surprises in this area?

[Nicolas de Tavernost, executive]

Thank you for these questions. I'll answer the last one first regarding the funding of public broadcasting, radio or TV where, of course, there are debates in parliament. It's not my place to comment on that.

Regarding public sector broadcasting, the sector is very well financed. If you compare the business of public broadcasting in radio with what we get on the private sector, you can see a considerable difference in financial resources made available to public broadcasting. And you can also see that guaranteed income for public TV is high and there are a number of events for which we cannot bid especially some sporting events because they are not within reach for us. Right now, public TV has higher financial resources in this competition than us in order to get those rights.

So could we expect an increase in advertising? I think that the authorities have clearly said that they didn't want to increase advertising resources, either for TV or radio in the public sector, which are still high because there is advertising on TV before 8:00 p.m. and with an in-depth use of sponsorship on TV for their programs. So they have significant resources, and there's no reason to fear that these commitments made by the authorities in this area regarding the level of advertising for the public sector would be [indiscernible].

On the contribution from Stéphane Plaza, I think that it's roughly what you said. Yes, it's a bit higher than EUR 6 million for the half year, in line with what we announced. And so the business is good. It's still good as regards Stéphane Plaza Immobilier, with nearly 700 agencies licensed. We're still expanding the fleet. And so this is very good. The network is -- has a lot of members, and we are very happy between of this -- association between Plaza and M6.

On WCR, there's a real seasonal effect. So we're not expecting a significant -- a similar change over the full year because a lot of elements are related to the first half.

[Christophe Cherblanc, analyst]

All right. And just to be clear, the contribution from Plaza was EUR 6 million or EUR 7 million? I didn't get that.

[Jérôme Lefébure, executive]

To be quite precise, it's EUR 6.4 million.

[Christophe Cherblanc, analyst]

EUR 6.4 million for the first half?

[Jérôme Lefébure, executive]

Yes.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions]

[Nicolas de Tavernost, executive]

Well, now regarding the projected merger between TF1 and M6, you know that as part of this project, the investigative services of the Competition Authority handed in their reports, this report does not preempt the final decision by the ADLC because it's up to the college of the authority to decide on whether they'll give the green light to this merger and under what conditions. However, in the investigative report, the staff highlighted significant competition issues, especially on the TV advertising market. The nature and the extent of the remedies required by this investigation would remove any relevance from this project. And in this case, both parties would pull the plug on the project.

So both parties wish to keep the project as it was presented, and they will reply to the authority within 3 weeks to the report, which is but one element in the investigation of this case. That's what I can say tonight.

So in investigative reports, which is not in favor of this project given the remedies considered, so it would not allow us to build a consistent industrial project as we imagined it. And so we are going to respond to this report. Stakeholders are going to respond in the next few weeks, and that's all I can say at this stage in the operation.

So I would like to thank you for having attended this call about the results of the first half 2022. See you at the beginning of next year for the full year results. In the meantime, many things will change. We will have a lot to say, I'm sure at the beginning of 2023. So have a good holiday if you are going on vacation.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, the call is now over. Thanks for taking part. You can now disconnect.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]