PRAGUE -(Dow Jones)- Television broadcaster Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CETV) Thursday said it only expects growth in one of its markets this year and has already hit bottom in terms of the fall in advertising revenue.
"Our markets reached the bottom and haven't started to grow yet," Chief Executive Adrian Sarbu told an investors conference. He said the company only expected growth in Ukraine in the fourth quarter as in other markets most advertisers continue to cut costs.
The NASDAQ- and Prague Stock Exchange-listed company said its 2009 consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, will be between $60 million and $70 million.
CETV expects television advertising revenue to increase in all its markets next year. It forecasts 6% annual growth in the key Czech and Romanian markets following the company's an expected 23% full-year decline this year in the Czech Republic and 28% expected fall in Romania.
The two countries account for roughly half of CETV's revenue. CETV is active in those countries and in Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Ukraine and Bulgaria.
Time Warner Inc. (TWX) is a minority shareholder in CETV.
Company Web site: www.cetv.net.com
-By Sean Carney, Dow Jones Newswires; +420 222 315 290, sean.carney@dowjones.com
Go to http://blogs.wsj.com/new-europe for the new Dow Jones blog on Central and Eastern Europe, covering business, politics, society and more, written by our correspondents across the region.