Int'l boost seen for ProSiebenSat.1
De Posch faces shareholders at annual meeting
Despite the upbeat assessment, however, de Posch faced disgruntled minority shareholders at the annual meeting who objected to the high dividends being paid out to majority shareholding private equity firms Permira and KKR.
The supervisory board approved record dividends for 2007 of 270 million euros ($419 million), a sum that far exceeds the company's $140 million net profit.
"I had hoped that private equity shareholders know that you shouldn't butcher the cow that you want to milk," complained one minority shareholder at the meeting.
Continually weak ratings at the company's Sat.1 channel, a dramatic first-quarter loss this year, high debt due to its SBS takeover, a $185 million legal fine last year and a stock price that has plunged some 60% in the past year have angered minority shareholders.
De Posch tried to allay fears by pointing out that the group would see growth thanks to its foreign broadcasting assets, part of the SBS Broadcasting Group it acquired last year. While Germany's sluggish economy will produce ad revenue growth of only 1%, de Posch said foreign TV markets would rise up to 4% and help boost the media conglom's bottom line this year.
ProSiebenSat.1 generates about two-thirds of its revenue in Germany, the rest from Scandinavia, the Benelux and Eastern Europe.
The topper said the group had enough liquidity to expand, adding that it was necessary to invest in digital media to remain competitive against Internet giants like Google.
