Over the last years, Hubert Burda Media’s activities have consistently concentrated on five business divisions. Thanks to this diversification as well as the constant strengthening of the foreign operations, Hubert Burda Media was able to continue its growth despite the difficult business environment of 2008 and the result in the operational business only declined slightly. The operating performance increased by 3.8 per cent, from € 2,214.0m to € 2,297.4m. Consolidated group turnover (external sales) rose by 3.7 per cent, from € 1,687.3m to € 1,750.4m.

At € 686.9m (2007: € 710.6m), Domestic Publishing accounted for 39.2 per cent (2007: 42.1 per cent) of external sales, Foreign Publishing with € 419.9m (2007: € 374.0m) for 24.0 per cent (2007: 22.2 per cent), Digital with € 340.5m (2007: € 274.5m) for 19.5 per cent (2007: 16.3 per cent), Printing with € 152.3m (2007: € 156.9m) for 8.7 per cent (2007: 9.3 per cent), Direct Marketing with € 144.7m (2007: € 166.2m) for 8.3 per cent (2007: 9.8 per cent), and other activities with € 6.1m (2007: € 5.1m) for 0.3 per cent (2007: 0.3 per cent). Investments in fixed assets amounted to € 152.4m, including € 27.2m from special transactions. Adjusted for this amount and together with the investment in new projects (€ 17.7m compared to € 19.5m in 2007), Hubert Burda Media invested € 142.9m (2007: € 222.7m) in 2008.

Notwithstanding the fierce global economic climate, Hubert Burda Media is in a good position. If the economy of individual countries should develop better than predicted by the current forecasts, the diversification and internationalisation of Hubert Burda Media’s business activities will offer significant prospects. The current weakness of the domestic and foreign publishing markets will also intensify the consolidation process and subsequently lead to excellent opportunities for acquisitions. Hubert Burda Media deems itself well-prepared to take advantage of arising prospects.

Another important point is that media digitalisation and thus the importance of the division Digital will increase further. Over the course of the years, Hubert Burda Media has built a sound position in this field – with both its portfolio of own products and investments. The individual business models are continually being developed and expanded into crossmedia platforms on this basis. Even though the moment of economic recovery cannot yet be predicted, Hubert Burda Media is already laying the basis for achieving above-average growth as soon as the time has come.