Investors remain confident despite Agora's poor figures

Media concern Agora is still recovering from its failed national daily newspaper project, Nowy Dzień, and the appearance on the market of a serious competitor to its flagship daily, Gazeta Wyborcza.

In Q3 2006, Agora's net profit amounted to zł.7.72 million against zł.25.6 million the year before. The operational profit of the group fell almost zł.25 million in comparison with the same quarter of 2005, while consolidated revenues reached zł.245.1 million against zł.256.9 million the year before.

"The third quarter was disappointing - advertising outlays grew by less than we expected. Two reasons prevailed: deepening seasonality and the shift of advertising budgets to the end of Q2, because of the World Football Championships," Wanda Rapaczyński, CEO of Agora, commented.

Surprisingly, investors remained unmoved by the poor results and on the day of their publication, Agora's share price grew by five percent. One of the quoted reasons for the shift was that Agora posted a net profit, while analysts had predicted the firm would make a loss.

Rapaczyński is also rather optimistic as to the outcome of the newspaper war which began when Axel Springer launched its Dziennik in direct competition with Gazeta Wyborcza. "Good news - the tighter competition on the newspaper market did not shake Gazeta Wyborcza's readership and sales position. This is a key thing as it's around Gazeta's brand and reputation that we're building our new internet activities, such as a job-search engine," Rapaczyński said.

Rapaczyński is nearing the end of her tenure at Agora, however. The company's long-time CEO is going to retire and her replacement is currently being sought by Korn/Ferry International.