Ailing ad market affecting CME

Central and eastern European broadcaster Central European Media Enterprises has reported third quarter revenues down 15% year-on-year as CEE advertising markets fail to recover.

Revenue for the three months ending September 30 stood at US$140.1 million (€107 million), down from US$165.5 million a year earlier.

Adrian Sarbu, CME’s president and CEO, said that ad-spend in the second half of 2012 had not matches expectations. “Our third quarter results and the prospects for the full year 2012 indicate that our markets are not recovering,” he said. “We were successful in addressing our capital structure and debt maturities but we were unable to achieve our sales and free cash flow targets. Our OIBDA guidance for 2012 is between US$130 – 140 million. Facing new challenges, we focus on maintaining our leading positions while aggressively managing our costs and improving free cash flow generation and liquidity.”