CLT-UFA Luxembourg, September 18, 1998 ,

Europe's leading broadcasting Group CLT-UFA announced a non-audited net result - group share of LUF 2.3 billion ($ 61.8 million) for the first half of 1998, up from LUF 0.5 billion ($ 13.9 million) for the same period in 1997. The Board of Directors, which met today, also noted an increase in turnover from LUF 55.3 billion ($ 1.54 billion) on June 30, 1997 to LUF 59.4 ($ 1.60 billion) on June 30, 1998 (+ 7.4 %).

Increased turnover and profit are attributed to current business, where net profit jumped from LUF 1.4 billion ($ 38.4 million) in June 1997 to LUF 3.2 billion ($ 86.0 million) in the first half of 1998. Over the past year, business in Germany and the Netherlands picked up sharply and profits at M6 remained high. In addition, RTL2 (Television) in Germany as well as RTL2 (Radio) in France reached break even for the first time in the first half of 1998.

Under CLT-UFA's growth-oriented strategy, the Group is continuing to invest in establishing new stations. These investments climbed from LUF 1.5 billion ($41.7 million) in the first half of 1997 to LUF 3.5 billion ($94.1 million) in the same period of 1998, with most made by Premiere digital in Germany, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, RTL7 in Poland and RTL Klub in Hungary.

CLT-UFA has also completed restructuring at TPS and RTL 9. Buoyed by the capital gain on disposal of shares in these two stations, the non-operating result increased from LUF 0.2 billion ($5.6 million) to 2.6 billion ($69.9 million).

For the full year, CLT-UFA's pre-tax earnings are expected to be close to break-even.