BERLIN:Bertelsman SE & Co KGaA, Europe's biggest media company, yesterday reported a 4.7% rise in full-year core profit and reiterated it wanted to raise its stake in Penguin Random House, the book publisher which helped to drive the earnings increase.
bertelsmann controls RTL Group SA and owns about half of Penguin Random House, pablisher of bestselling authors such as John Grisham,Stephen king and Paula Hawkins, in a joint venture with Pearson Plc.
Pearson and Bertelsmann committed to holding their shares for at least three years when the Penguin Random House venture was unveiled in October 2012 and each partner has the right of first refusal thereafter.
Bertelsmann chife executive Thomas Rabe said that he did not expect anything to happen this year,but also said that he would feel comfortable owning between 70 and 75% of the book publisher.Bertelsmann's current stake is 53%
Rabe said Bertelsmann had been approached by a number of investors who would be interested in participating in a deal to buy Pearson's stake should Pearson decide to sell it.
Pearson said yesterday that was on change in its position regarding its stake in the joint venture folling Bertelsmann's comments.
Bertelsmann's full-year earing before interest,tax,depreciation and amortisation from continuing operations rose to€2.49 billion($2.79 billion), the highest level since 2006.
Earlier this months RTL Group reported a rise in2005 earnings helped by its German operation and favourable exchange rates.
Bertelsmann said that it expected saled to reach € 20 billion by around 2020, up from €17.1billon from ots continuing operation in 2015.