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| Net Assets, Financial Position and Results of Operations |
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Revenues and earnings improve
N24's rising important as the Group's central information service provider
improved the station's revenues and earnings last year. Revenues were EUR
95 million, compared to EUR 67 million the year before. This represents a
gain of 42 percent. Pre-tax result improved from EUR -38 million to EUR -24
million - a gain of 37 percent, or EUR 14 million. Since May 1999, ProSieben-
Sat.1 Media AG has absorbed N24's net results under a profit and loss transfer
agreement.
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| N24: Revenue development |
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| N24: Income development |
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Balance sheet total
The station's good performance is also reflected in the balance sheet of N24
Gesellschaft für Nachrichten und Zeitgeschehen mbH. Balance sheet total
was down from the 2001 figure of EUR 56 million to EUR 32 million, a decline
of roughly 43 percent.
On the liabilities and equity side, liabilities to Group companies were down
from EUR 42 million to EUR 21 million. That represents a drop of EUR 21
million, or 50 percent, from a year earlier. Trade accounts payable amounted
to EUR 2.2 million, after the previous year's EUR 2.9 million. Accruals
were down from EUR 9.5 million to EUR 7.6 million. Equity remained unchanged
at EUR 25,000.
The main change on the assets side of the balance sheet was a decline in
amounts receivable from Group companies. This figure dropped from EUR 45
million to EUR 24 million. At the same time, trade accounts receivable decreased
from around EUR 2.9 million to EUR 1 million. Fixed assets, at EUR
2.8 million, remained approximately the same. Current assets are the largest
asset item, accounting for 81 percent of total assets. This item was down
from EUR 48 million to EUR 26 million. Current assets include N24's onbalance-
sheet programming assets. These assets are mainly documentaries
and special reports intended for one-time or multiple airings. For a news
station, programming assets 
inherently play a less central role than they do
for full-service stations like ProSieben or Sat.1. As of December 31, 2002,
on-balance-sheet programming assets amounted to EUR 0.13 million, following
on EUR 0.34 million the year before. Off-balance-sheet programming
assets amounted to EUR 0.46 million. Thus total programming assets under
contract and available for airing on N24 are worth roughly EUR 0.59 million.
The N24 programming stock includes approximately 1,730 hours of documentaries
and special reports. The programming rights N24 has under contract
today will cover roughly 33 percent of its needs for licensed programming
until the year 2005. Including the option N24 holds on an additional
licensing package, the level of coverage increases to 67 percent until 2005.
Capitalized programming assets are subject to scheduled depreciation
as of
the start of their first airing. This depreciation appears in the statement of
income under programming and material costs. The amount, EUR 0.75 for
2002, was almost the same as the previous year's EUR 0.76 million. At the
same time, other expenses for transmission fees and materials were down
from EUR 14 million to EUR 13 million. But expenses for third-party services
rose from EUR 57 million to EUR 67 million. In all, the item for programming
and materials costs rose from EUR 72 million to EUR 81 million in
2002, a gain of about 13 percent. The higher expense resulted from the increase
in productions for Group stations, including "24-Stunden Reportage,"
"Frühstücksfernsehen" and Sat.1 news since July 1, 2001. Programming investments
with an impact on the balance sheet amounted to EUR 0.53 million
in 2002, and were thus down 47 percent from the previous year's figure
of EUR 1 million.
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N24 had larger staff in 2002
In 2002, N24 Gesellschaft für Nachrichten und Zeitgeschehen mbH had an
average of 272 employees, following the previous year's 204. The reason
for the increase was the transfer of around 140 employees from Sat.1's
"Information and Magazines" department to N24 as of July 1, 2001. The
transfer was not fully reflected in the average staff figures until 2002. The
larger staff pushed up personnel expenses from EUR 16 million to EUR 21
million.
The average age of all N24 personnel in 2002 was 35. In its editorial operations,
the station had 24 trainees and 104 interns last year.
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