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Splendid Medien AG presents final figures for fiscal 1999

Considerable growth in all business divisions / Continual increase
in yield and investments in high-calibre film projects

Splendid Medien AG of Cologne improved its turnover in fiscal
1999 by 30% to 37.7 million Deutschmarks compared with the previous
year (29.0). Over the same period, the company's earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose by 17% to 23.2
(19.8) million Deutschmarks. The Cologne-based media company's
earnings before interest and tax amounted to 5.3 (3.6) million
Deutschmarks, representing an improvement of 47%. The DVFA result was
2.1 million Deutschmarks. Although it was necessary to take account
of exceptional charges of 9.3 million Deutschmarks for going public,
the annual surplus was still 1.0 million Deutschmarks.

The main source of income was the licensing division with 22.4
(21.6) million Deutschmarks, while the video/DVD division increased
its turnover by 126% to 13.1 (5.8) million Deutschmarks. The
synchronization division contributed 2.2 (1.6) million Deutschmarks
to the results last fiscal year. With its share of 59%, licensing was
the most important division in the Splendid Medien AG group last
year, followed by the video/DVD division with a 35% share. The
synchronization division, which was hived off from Splendid Film in
June 1999, achieved a 6% share of turnover.

"These figures represent the fulfilment of our ambitious planned
goals which we set at the time of the IPO. Last fiscal year's result
is more than satisfactory and thanks to our large-scale investments
we have created the basis for further growth in the future," explains
Dietmar Schmitz, CFO of Splendid Medien AG. The high level of EBIT
growth is above all due to the company's profitable film library.
Films are generally fully amortized after the initial licence period,
so that now, in the second exploitation phase, they make a large
contribution to results, which in 1999 amounted to 2.5 million
Deutschmarks.

With its equity ratio of 88% (total assets: 170.6 million
Deutschmarks, ownership capital: 149.6 million Deutschmarks) the
company's business is founded on a solid financial basis.

In the fiscal year just ended Splendid invested 93.1 million
Deutschmarks (1998: 23.1) in high-calibre Hollywood films featuring
star actors and top-line directors. In the forthcoming years Splendid
expects to greatly increase turnover and yield, thanks to
co-productions and co-financing deals with Disney/Miramax, USA
Network and Jodie Foster's production company "Egg Pictures".
Splendid/IEG hold at least the entire rights worldwide outside North
America for these projects which means they will be able to exploit
the projects' full global commercial potential. These projects
include "Dr. T and the Women" by Robert Altman starring Richard Gere
and the hitherto largest independent project of all time, "Gangs of
New York" by director Martin Scorsese featuring "Titanic" star
Leonardo DiCaprio in the leading role. Other projects negotiated
during the present fiscal year are the thriller "Traffic" with
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas and Dennis Quaid, for which
filming has just begun. Then there is the romantic adventure film
"Smoke and Mirrors", probably also starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, and
the project "The Dangerous Lives of Altar-Boys", which Splendid is
undertaking together with Academy award winner Jodie Foster. The
joint venture deal agreed in January 2000 with Milkwood Films,
Catherine Zeta-Jones's film production company, will also make a
considerable contribution to profitability in future.

The company's auditing is done according to IAS regulations and
the annual results will be published and explained by the board at a
financial press conference in Düsseldorf on 18 April 2000.

End
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Original-Content von: splendid medien AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell