Lagardère broadcast turns in reduced EBIT

French conglomerate Lagardère’s broadcast business turned in EBIT of €11m last year, a drastic fall from 2008’s figure of €95m.

According to Lagardère, two thirds of the fall was due to the decline in its radio business, reflecting a 15% drop in advertising revenue, with Russia particularly hard hit. TV profits were hit year-on-year by the non-recurrence of reversals of provisions and by a rise in the cost of some digital-terrestrial programming.

Lagardère as a whole turned in revenues of €7.9bn, down 4% year-on-year. Net income was €137m, down from €593m in 2008.