Press Release

First half-year as expected for AdLINK Group

Montabaur, August 11, 2009. AdLINK Internet Media AG looks back on a difficult first six months of FY2009.

Consolidated sales reached EUR 102.1 million, compared with prior-year sales still largely unaffected by the economic crisis of EUR 113.8 million. Against the backdrop of reduced advertising budgets around the world and the resulting pressure on margins from fierce competition for the remaining budgets, key earnings ratios also fell in the first half of 2009. As expected, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 47.0%, from EUR 10.0 million to EUR 5.3 million, while pre-tax earnings (EBT) were down by 59.5%, from EUR 7.9 million to EUR 3.2 million.

“In the first half of 2009 we too were hit hard by the effects of the global financial and economic crisis on the online advertising market,” says Andreas Janssen, CFO of AdLINK Internet Media AG. “The fall in customer demand, and the resulting pressure on prices and margins, was felt most acutely in our Display Marketing business. As a result, sales were down on last year in this segment – despite stable key reach figures. The negative trend in Domain Marketing also continued in the first half of 2009. In contrast to these two segments, however, our Affiliate Marketing business continued to make encouraging progress,” explains Janssen. “In difficult economic times, performance-based advertising formats, such as affiliate marketing, can expand their business even under adverse conditions for the advertising market as a whole.”

The relevant key market figures for the AdLINK Group’s three business segments made varying progress:

In Affiliate Marketing (affilinet), there was a further year-on-year increase in reach. With 1,692 program suppliers – compared with 1,470 last year – the number of affiliated websites increased from 448,000 to 477,000. Ad impressions generated per month improved from 6.9 billion to over 9.5 billion.

In the course of a quality and efficiency campaign carried out by Sedo in the first half of 2009, the number of domains traded via Sedo fell from 13.8 million last year to 13.2 million. Of this total, around 6.2 million domains (prior year: 6.4 million) are available for marketing purposes. The number of registered members grew by 11.9%, from around 800,000 to around 890,000.

In the Display Marketing segment, the number of monthly unique users increased from 81.6 million in 2008 to 84.9 million. The average number of ad impressions generated per month on websites marketed by AdLINK Media grew from 10.2 billion to 10.6 billion.

In July 2009, the AdLINK Group transferred its Display Marketing business to the French Hi-media Group. “We are thus actively shaping the market consolidation process. In addition to synergy effects, the new larger unit can expect improved profitability from its increased scale with regard to reach, portfolio, advertising customers and international presence,” explains Marc Stilke, Speaker of the Management Board of AdLINK Internet Media AG. “At the same time, our stake of 10.7% will enable us to participate in the expected medium-term growth of the Display Marketing sector. In future, the AdLINK Group will focus fully on the performance-based business fields of Affiliate Marketing and Domain Marketing.”

“The year will probably remain difficult for all online marketers. Nevertheless, online marketing will continue to grow in importance and raise its share of the total advertising market,” states Marc Stilke. “Following the transfer to Hi-media of our Display Marketing business, AdLINK Media, it will be carried in the balance sheet as discontinued operations in future. As a consequence, we have adjusted our forecasts for fiscal year 2009 and now expect sales for our continued performance-based operations of approx. EUR 141 million, EBITDA of around EUR 11.5 million and EBT of approx. EUR 6.5 million.”

Half-year comparison in EUR million	1st half-year 2008	1st half-year 2009	Change in %
Sales	113.8	102.1	-10.3
EBITDA	10.0	5.3	-47.0
EBT	7.9	3.2	-59.5
Net income	5.0	1.4	-72.0

Quarterly comparison in EUR million	Q2 2008	Q2 2009	Change in %
Sales	56.7	50.1	-11.6
EBITDA	4.7	2.3	-51.1
EBT	3.9	1.3	-66.7
Net income	2.4	0.6	-75.0

About AdLINK Internet Media AG (ISIN DE 0005490155)

AdLINK Internet Media AG is a leading European supplier of online performance marketing solutions. The company’s two services, affilinet (www.affili.net) and Sedo (www.sedo.com), together reach over 100 million unique users. With the aid of our sophisticated advertising technology, we convert visitors to over 5 million internet domains and websites into sales leads and customers.

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