ProSiebenSat.1 Group increases full-year outlook for revenues and adjusted EBITDA following a good first quarter ProSiebenSat.1 Group's revenues grew better than planned by 1% to EUR 938 million in the first quarter of 2021 despite pandemic-related lower advertising revenues.
Also the Group's adjusted EBITDA developed better than originally expected in the pandemic environment, declining by only 9% year-on-year to EUR 143 million.
In particular the strong earnings growth in the Dating and Commerce & Ventures segments largely offset the declines in the high-margin advertising business. Together with efficient cost management, this strengthened the Group's profitability.
Net financial debt was reduced by EUR 295 million compared to March 31, 2020, despite the pandemic environment.
The Group increases its full-year outlook for revenues by EUR 100 million to a target range between EUR 4.250 billion and EUR 4.450 billion and for adjusted EBITDA from between EUR 720 million and EUR 780 million to between EUR 750 million and EUR 800 million.
Unterf hring, May 12, 2021. Despite the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, ProSiebenSat.1 Group made a good start into financial year 2021: In the first quarter of 2021, the Group generated revenues of EUR 938 million - a slight increase of 1% compared to the previous year (previous year: EUR 926 million). In the first three months of the year, the ongoing diversification of the Group more than compensated for the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Group's revenues after the previous-year quarter was not impacted by initial COVID-19 effects until mid-March 2020. Whereas in the first quarter of 2021 advertising revenues were down year-on-year as expected due to the pandemic, growth was generated amongst others by program production and sales as well as the distribution business in the Entertainment segment and by companies in the Commerce & Ventures segment such as the online beauty provider Flaconi, which particularly benefited from the advertising reach of the entertainment business. In addition, the Dating segment played a key role here with the integration of the US online dating company The Meet Group, which is also recording strong organic growth.
Rainer Beaujean, Chairman of the Executive Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE: We are very satisfied with our start into the year 2021. Despite the continuing COVID-19 lockdown, we have achieved revenue growth in the first quarter and limited the impact on adjusted EBITDA - even though the previous-year figures were mostly not yet affected by the pandemic until mid-March 2020. This is clearly due to our increasing diversification: Particularly with our good results in the Dating and Commerce & Ventures segments, we largely compensated for the pandemic-driven declines in the advertising business.
Operating performance
ProSiebenSat.1 has been reporting in the three segments Entertainment, Dating and Commerce & Ventures since January 1, 2021. With this, Red Arrow Studios' program production and global sales business as well as the digital studio Studio71 have been integrated into the Entertainment segment. The Dating segment, which includes ParshipMeet Group, remained unchanged compared to the end of 2020. The newly created Commerce & Ventures segment has since bundled the Group's minority and majority investment areas. These include the investment arm Seven Ventures and the NuCom Group companies. In this way, the Company is becoming even more synergistic, diversified and profitable in order to generate sustainable growth in all business areas.
External revenues in the Entertainment segment amounted to EUR 610 million in the first quarter of 2021 and were thus 8% below the previous year's figure (previous year: EUR 664 million). While the ongoing pandemic-related restrictions had the expected impact on the advertising industry's investment behavior, and advertising revenues in the Entertainment segment decreased by 14%, revenues from program production and sales rose by 20%. Distribution revenues also developed dynamically and increased by 8% year-on-year, in particular due to higher numbers of HD users.
In the first quarter of 2021, the Dating segment generated external revenues of EUR 141 million and thus EUR 82 million more than in the previous-year quarter (previous year: EUR 59 million). This increase was influenced by the acquisition of The Meet Group in September 2020, which is also recording strong organic growth; organically(1), revenues of the Dating segment remained about stable. On a pro-forma basis(2), i.e. including The Meet Group's revenues for the first quarter of 2020, the segment posted a revenue increase of 36%, with the live video business of The Meet Group growing particularly dynamically in the first quarter of 2021.
In the Commerce & Ventures segment, external revenues decreased by 8% to EUR 187 million in the first quarter of 2021 (previous year: EUR 203 million), which is due to the disposal and deconsolidation of the OTC provider WindStar Medical in December 2020. Organically, however, the segment's revenues clearly grew by 10%. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the online beauty provider Flaconi in particular continued its positive revenue development with significant growth and more than compensated for the negative effects that the lockdown measures are still having on individual portfolio companies such as the car rental comparison portal Billiger Mietwagen (SilverTours) and the experience and leisure business of Jochen Schweizer mydays.
The Group's adjusted EBITDA decreased by only 9% or EUR 14 million year-on-year to EUR 143 million in the first quarter of 2021 (previous year: EUR 157 million) and thus less than originally expected. While the revenue decline in the high-margin advertising busin
