Massive dividend cuts and a new chief financial officer, a decline in profits and sales, plus trouble with the public prosecutor's office. Pro Sieben Sat.1 surprised with a lot of news on Thursday evening. For the shareholders, all these are hardly good prospects. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of only around eleven million euros to the 2023 Annual General Meeting, up from 181 million in the previous year, the television group announced. Only EUR 0.05 (previous year: EUR 0.80) per share is to be distributed.

Pro Sieben Sat.1 also presented its business figures for 2022. Accordingly, revenues fell by 7.4 percent to 4.16 billion euros due to weak advertising markets and operating profit (adjusted Ebitda) fell by almost 20 percent to 678 million euros. For this year, the Group is counting on stagnating sales of 4.1 billion euros, which could deviate upwards or downwards by 150 million euros. Operating profit is expected to decline to around EUR 600 million (plus or minus EUR 50 million).

New Chief Financial Officer

In addition, Pro Sieben Sat.1 is parting ways with Chief Financial Officer Ralf Gierig with immediate effect and by mutual agreement. The 57-year-old had been with the company for over 20 years and had been on the Executive Board since the beginning of 2022.

His successor is to be Martin Mildner on 1 May. The 53-year-old was most recently Chief Financial Officer of United Internet. He successfully floated the Group's subsidiary Ionos on the stock exchange, ProSiebenSat.1 explained. This could indicate that Mildner is to float the TV group's dating division - the ParshipMeet Group - on the stock exchange when the situation on the capital market has calmed down. This project has been on hold since the Ukraine war.

Prosecutor's office observed

Recently, regulatory questions about the business of the voucher subsidiary Jochen Schweizer mydays caused problems. As a result, Pro Sieben Sat.1 had to postpone its balance sheet submission and was almost temporarily kicked out of the MDax. The question arose as to the extent to which parts of the business activities of Jochen Schweizer and mydays fall under the so-called Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG). Now it was said that the product range was adjusted in March and could continue to be operated without the permission of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin).

Currently, both companies are coordinating details with BaFin in order to process the voucher products that were issued before the offer adjustment and required permission from Bafin according to the ZAG. "At the same time, Pro Sieben Sat.1 is currently conducting an independent internal investigation by an external law firm with the aim of clarifying any misconduct," the television group explained. "In addition, the Munich I public prosecutor's office has initiated an observation process." Pro Sieben Sat.1 and the subsidiaries concerned cooperated extensively with the relevant authorities. "The possible financial burdens for the Group in connection with the regulatory investigations cannot yet be estimated, but could be significant."

CEO Bert Habets emphasized that they are working hard to "advance the entertainment business around the streaming platform Joyn at full speed". A strict cost-cutting program has been launched. At the same time, a significantly reduced dividend is proposed to shareholders for 2022 and the general dividend policy is to be made more flexible in the future. "All of this is the cornerstone of a secure and successful future for our company."

At the end of March, the company surprisingly announced job cuts, but did not give a concrete figure. Due to the delay in the presentation of the balance sheet, the Annual General Meeting originally planned for May 2 will now take place on June 30. In addition, the figures for the first quarter will not be published until the end of May.