Supplementary written evidence submitted
by the BBC
BBC FOLLOW-UP
TO ORAL
EVIDENCE SESSION
At the end of the 7 September oral evidence session,
Mark Thompson offered to write to the Committee with the list
of the comparators the BBC uses to benchmark BBC Worldwide for
Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization
(EBITDA) and Profit Before Interest and Taxes (PBIT).
Below are the figures detailing our operating margin,
EBITDA and EBITDA margin for 2009/10 alongside those of a number
of other broadly comparable media companies. Therese Coffey MP
referred to BBC Worldwide as having an "EBITDA margin
of 14%". We assume she was referring to the figure given
on page 2-86 of the BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2009-10 which
is actually BBC Worldwide's operating margin pre-exceptionals
[rounded up from 13.5%]. We cite this measure publicly, rather
than EBITDA, as we view it as a better indicator of financial
performance.
The figures show BBC Worldwide is performing strongly
in its sector (above the mean) and delivering healthy margins.
2009-10
| % op profit before exceptionals
|
| Comcast | 20.2% |
| Axel Springer AG | 16.1% |
| Vivendi | 14.1% |
| BBC Worldwide | 13.5% |
| Pearson | 13.4% |
| News Corp | 11.3% |
| Bertelsman | 10.3% |
| BskyB | 9.2% |
| RTL | 8.9% |
| ITV | 7.6% |
| EBITDA | % EBITDA Margin
|
| Comcast | 13,714 | 38.4%
|
| Vivendi | 7,683 | 28.3%
|
| Pearson | 1,264 | 22.5%
|
| BskyB | 1,192 | 20.2%
|
| BBC Worldwide | 191 | 17.8%
|
| News Corp | 5,228 | 15.9%
|
| Bertelsman | 2,003 | 13.0%
|
| Axel Springer AG | 334 |
12.8% |
| ITV | 240 | 12.8%
|
| RTL | 564 | 10.4%
|
7 October 2010
|
