OREANDA-NEWS. March 04, 2011. CTC Media, Inc. (“CTC Media” or “the Company”) (NASDAQ: CTCM), Russia’s leading independent media company, announced its unaudited consolidated financial results for the fourth quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2010, reported the press-centre of CTC Media.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Total revenues up 28% year-on-year in ruble terms in Q4 and up 15% for the full year

Russian advertising revenues up 22% year-on-year in ruble terms in Q4 and up 13% for the full year

Adjusted OIBDA up 19% year-on-year in US dollar terms to USD 104.4 million in Q4, with an OIBDA margin of 46.9%, and up 5% year-on-year to USD 220.9 million for the full year with an OIBDA margin of 36.7%

Adjusted diluted earnings per share up 17% year-on-year to USD 0.48 in Q4 (2009: USD 0.41) and up 2% year-on-year to USD 0.93 for the full year (2009: USD 0.91)

Payment of USD 50.2 million of cash dividends in Q4 and USD 80.4 million for the full year

Net cash position* of USD 177.0 million at year end

Board of Directors currently intends to pay aggregate cash dividends of USD 100 million in 2011 and declared a cash dividend of USD 0.16 per share (or approximately USD 25 million in the aggregate) to be paid on or about March 31, 2011 to stockholders of record as of March 1, 2011, with further dividends anticipated in the remaining quarters of 2011

*Net cash position is defined as cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments less interest bearing liabilities.

OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS
Combined Russian national inventory fully sold-out for Q4 and 99% sold-out for the full year

Average national Russian advertising prices up 28% year-on-year in Q4 and 6% for the full year in ruble terms, with regional advertising prices up 27% year-on-year in Q4 and 20% for the full year in ruble terms

Average full year combined audience share for 3 Russian networks up year-on-year from 15.1% to 15.2% in key “all 18-49” demographic

Year-on-year increase in year-end technical penetration of CTC, Domashny and DTV networks in Russia to 93.7% (2009: 90.7%), 81.6% (2009: 76.4%), and 72.5% (2009: 68.4%), respectively

Acquisition of 7 regional television stations in 6 Russian cities

Launch of CTC-International channel in Israel in June 2010

Establishment of CTC Media internal advertising sales house ‘EvereST-S’ in September 2010

Launch of ‘Videomore’ online social television network in December 2010

Anton Kudryashov, Chief Executive Officer of CTC Media, commented: “2010 was a record year for CTC Media, with Group revenues already higher in ruble terms than in 2008 before the crisis. Revenues were up 15% year-on-year in ruble terms to USD 601.3 million for the full year, as we captured the resurgent growth in the Russian TV advertising market. We were fully sold-out in the fourth quarter as advertising prices continued to rise during the year, and quarterly revenues were up 28% year-on-year in ruble terms. Our power ratios have remained stable, and we also generated substantially higher sublicensing and own production revenues.

“Operating costs were up for the year and the quarter, in line with our investments in the development of our second-tier networks and the establishment of our internal advertising sales agency. We have also just launched our ‘Videomore’ online social television network, and will continue to invest in the development of this exciting project in 2011.

“Group OIBDA was up year-on-year in both the quarter and for the full year, and we delivered healthy adjusted OIBDA margins of 46.9% and 36.7% for the quarter and the full year, respectively, despite the revaluation of certain underperforming programming assets and other library content at the end of the year. Adjusted OIBDA was actually higher in ruble terms in the fourth quarter of 2010 than for the same period of 2008 before the crisis. Our high levels of cash generation and conversion during the year enabled us to pay out USD 80 million of dividend payments in 2010, and we ended the year with net cash of USD 177 million.

“Looking forward, 75% of our anticipated full-year national inventory in Russia is already committed at significantly higher average prices than in 2010. Now that we are handling almost all of our advertising sales in-house, our advertising revenues will be reported almost entirely on a gross rather than net basis, and our operating expenses will include both internal and third party costs associated with the new sales structure. This change structurally reduces our cost of sales as a percentage of gross revenues. We currently expect our operating revenues to grow by approximately 20% year-on-year in ruble terms in 2011, when adjusting the 2010 sales for the sales commission paid to Video International. We also expect to achieve an OIBDA margin of between 34% and 36% for the full year, which would be equivalent to an improved OIBDA margin of between 38% and 40% under the 2010 sales structure.

“Given the increasingly favorable operating environment and the lower level of capital investment now required, we are also today announcing that we currently intend to pay out \\$100 million in quarterly cash dividends during 2011 and that we will therefore pay out a cash dividend of \\$25 million at the end of this month.”