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| Net Assets, Financial Position and Results of Operations |
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Programming assets of EUR 493 million the most important asset item
Total assets dropped from EUR 638 million a year ago to EUR 550 million,
a reduction of 14 percent.
On the assets side of the balance sheet, the reduction in total assets is the
result of a decrease in current assets. With a share of 90 percent of total
assets, programming is ProSieben's most important asset item. ProSieben's
on-balance-sheet programming assets are mainly feature films and series,
along with commissioned productions intended for one-time or multiple airings.
Feature films and series are included here as of the beginning of their
license term; commissioned productions are capitalized as showable programming
assets as of their completion. Lower expenditures reduced programming
assets 16 percent, to EUR 493 million. Programming investments
with an impact on the balance sheet were down EUR 177 million to EUR 367
million.
ProSieben Television GmbH has further programming assets worth EUR 480
million that cannot be capitalized yet. Thus the total programming inventory
under contract amounted to EUR 973 million as of December 31, 2002.
The revenue potential of these programming assets by way of airings on
ProSieben is around EUR 1.4 billion. They comprise 17,271 hours of broadcasting
rights under contract, including 6,495 hours of feature films, 6,120
hours of series and 2,765 hours of cartoons. The programming rights
ProSieben has under contract so far will cover roughly 75 percent of its needs
for licensed programming until the year 2005.
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| Key features of the ProSieben programming stock |
| Programming stock (hours) |
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Receivables and other current assets, at EUR 55 million, were up just short
of 5 percent from the 2001 figure. This item includes supplies, trade accounts
receivable, receivables from Group companies, and other assets. Total
trade accounts receivable decreased 11 percent, to EUR 44 million.
By contrast, receivables from Group companies rose to EUR 8 million. Other
current assets, which gained about EUR 2 million from the year before, are
primarily input taxes that cannot be deducted yet, and refunds due from
GEMA for overpayments.
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Liabilities down 48 percent
On the liabilities and equity side, the reduction of debt was the key factor in
reducing the total. As of the December 31 , 2002, reporting date, liabilities
were EUR 89 million, roughly 48 percent below the previous year's figure.
Trade accounts payable were down EUR 13 million, and amounts owed to
other Group companies were down EUR 71 million.
Accruals, at EUR 10 million, were down 42 percent from the previous year.
Accruals for outstanding invoices dropped especially significantly from the
year before.
Equity, at EUR 451 million, remained at exactly the same level as the year
before. Under a profit and loss transfer agreement, the year's profit was transferred
directly to ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. The lower figure for total liabilities
and equity increased the equity ratio from 71 percent a year ago to
82 percent. Thus ProSieben has very strong equity capitalization.
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New programming increases personnel
The ProSieben staff averaged 300 employees in 2002. This is a gain of
around 4 percent, primarily as a consequence of the extension of the "taff."
time slot (already inaugurated in 2001) and the expansion of the "Abenteuer
Leben" editorial team. "Abenteuer Leben" is a Kabel 1 magazine that is partly
also staffed by ProSieben because of synergies in the editorial process.
ProSieben's personnel expenses were up roughly 2 percent overall, to EUR
22 million.
The average age of all ProSieben personnel in 2002 was 31. In its editorial
operations, the station had 48 trainees. There were 232 individuals on professional
or training internships.
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