EQS-News: Bastei Lübbe continuing its strong revenue and earnings growth with a further upward adjustment in its full-year forecast

Bastei Lübbe continuing its strong revenue and earnings growth with a further upward adjustment in its full-year forecast

• 7.3 percent year-on-year increase in Group revenues to EUR 90.5 million in the first nine months of the 2024/2025 financial year
• 30.6 percent increase in Group EBIT to EUR 15.3 million
• Significantly wider EBIT margin of 16.9 percent (previous year: 13.9 percent)
• Full-year forecast for 2024/2025 raised: Group revenues of EUR 116 – 119 million and Group EBIT of EUR 17 – 18 million expected

Cologne, 6 February 2025 – Bastei Lübbe AG, a general-interest publishing group listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN DE000A1X3YY0), is on a dynamic growth trajectory in a difficult market environment, significantly improving its profitability in the third quarter of its 2024/2025 financial year. The publishing group continued to benefit from the success of its community-driven business models as well as its audio offerings and strong Christmas business. In the period from April to December 2024, it generated Group revenues of EUR 90.5 million, up from EUR 84.4 million in the same period of the previous year, equivalent to an increase of 7.3 percent. Group EBIT rose more swiftly by 30.6 percent in the period under review to EUR 15.3 million, up from EUR 11.7 million in the previous year. As in the previous year, the non-controlling interest in Räder yielded a dividend of EUR 1.0 million (previous year: EUR 1.2 million), but in the previous year this had been offset by a negative one-off effect caused by impairment losses of EUR 1 million recognised on intangible assets at Smarticular. The EBIT margin widened to 16.9 percent, compared with 13.9 percent in the same period of the previous year.

Soheil Dastyari, Chief Executive Officer of Bastei Lübbe AG: “We have only recently increased our forecast for the year significantly, and this is also confirmed by our very good performance in Q3. And this in a year with few guaranteed successes in our catalogue. This testifies to our strength as a company as well as our balanced catalogue, without which such a year would not be possible. This gives us all the more reason to look forward to the 2025/26 financial year, which is packed full with new releases by Dan Brown, Ken Follett, Rebecca Gablé, Rebecca F. Kuang, Jean Reno and many, many more.”

The share of revenues contributed by the community-driven business models stood at 43 percent in the first nine months of the 2024/2025 financial year, substantially exceeding the previous year’s figure of 35 percent. As in the previous year, the share of digital products in revenues reached 29 percent.

Growth underpinned by community models, audio and encouraging Christmas business
In an environment still characterised by muted macroeconomic conditions and consumer reticence, Bastei Lübbe AG performed very favourably in the first nine months of 2024/2025. Revenues of EUR 85.2 million (previous year: EUR 78.7 million) were recorded in the “Book” segment, materially spurred by the growth of 36 percent achieved by the LYX imprint with its catalogue for young adults together with growth of 7% in the audio segment. One major growth driver for LYX was the great success of “Maxton Hall – The World Between Us” based on the novel “Save Me” by Spiegel bestselling author Mona Kasten, which had been adapted as a series for Prime Video in the first quarter of the financial year. Segment EBIT climbed from EUR 9.8 million in the previous year to EUR 14.4 million in the period under review. This was primarily attributable to higher revenues as well as the absence of the impairments that had been recognised for Smarticular in the previous year.

In the “Novel Booklets” segment, revenues of EUR 5.3 million were generated in the period under review, compared with EUR 5.6 million in the previous year. At EUR 0.9 million in the first nine months of the 2024/2025 financial year, segment EBIT was up on the previous year (EUR 0.7 million), chiefly as a result of lower paper and printing costs.

Earnings growing at a disproportionately strong rate
The very favourable earnings performance is also reflected in earnings before taxes (EBT), which rose by 32.0 percent to EUR 14.7 million in the first nine months of 2024/2025 (previous year: EUR 11.1 million). Consolidated net profit for the period improved in the reporting period by 4.6 percent to EUR 10.0 million, up from EUR 9.5 million in the previous year. Accordingly, earnings per share rose to EUR 0.75, compared with EUR 0.72 in the previous year.

As of 31 December 2024, total Group assets stood at EUR 118.1 million, up from EUR 103.9 million as of 31 March 2024. At EUR 67.3 million on 31 December 2024, the share of equity attributable to the equity holders of the parent company was EUR 5.9 million higher than on 31 March 2024 (EUR 61.3 million). The consolidated net profit of EUR 10.0 million for the period was offset by the dividend payment of EUR 4.0 million for the 2023/2024 financial year.

Full-year forecast raised again
As announced in an ad-hoc announcement on 31 January 2025, the revenue and EBIT forecast for the 2024/2025 financial year has been adjusted upwards again on the strength of the company’s continued successful performance in the first nine months of its financial year. Extraordinary earnings effects arose from investment income in the form of a dividend of EUR 1.0 million on the non-controlling interest in Räder. At the same time, operating business continued to perform extremely well, exceeding the newly set targets again. In line with the corporate strategy, the community-driven business models in particular played a major role in this regard.

As a result, the Executive Board now expects Group revenues of between EUR 116 and 119 million for the 2024/2025 financial year (previous year: EUR 110.3 million), up from the forecast of EUR 113 – 117 million that had been adjusted on 31 October 2024. Group EBIT is now seen in a range of EUR 17 – 18 million (previous year: EUR 14.0 million), up from the earlier forecast of EUR 15 – 16 million.

Bastei Lübbe AG's report on the first nine months of the 2024/2025 financial year is available at www.bastei-luebbe.de.

About Bastei Lübbe AG:
Bastei Lübbe AG is the leading independent publishing group in Germany. Based in Cologne, it publishes books, audio books and e-books featuring high-quality popular entertainment as well as periodical novel booklets. In total, the company owns fifteen imprints. Bastei Lübbe sees itself as an innovation driver in the industry and has successfully established several rapidly expanding community-driven business models, among other things. Bastei Lübbe AG is also a pioneer of digital media, producing thousands of audio and eBooks, which are distributed via all digital exploitation channels. The parent company generates annual revenues of over EUR 110 million (2023/2024 financial year). 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
E-Mail: barbara.fischer@luebbe.de