Ringier Africa has announced its sites Rupu in Kenya, Tisu in Ghana, Pulse, Allsports in Ghana and Expat-Dakar, Senegal’s largest classified marketplace which the firm acquired a majority stake in this year have recorded a successful first half-year.
Ringier, which started business in Africa three years ago says it recorded fourfold sales in the first half of 2014, compared to the entire previous year due to professional scaling of existing products as well as winning renowned global corporations as media and advertising partners.
In a statement, Julian Artopé, Director of Ringier Africa said, “Especially the adjustment of our content and classified products in West Africa and the expansion of our number one position in e-commerce business in Kenya have contributed to this success.”
Ringier also praises Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal as among the growth markets most attractive for large American and European companies, according to the corresponding “Frontier Sentiment Index” drawn up exclusively for the Wall Street Journal. Nigeria, the former problem child of West Africa being the darling and attracting the interest of foreign investors with its fastest-growing economy on the continent.
Robin Lingg, CEO Ringier Africa & Asia: “The organization in Nigeria is contributing strongly to Ringier Africa’s success thanks to effective utilization of the enormous market potential; the largest market on the continent is already a great investment for us today.”
But things look otherwise as back home Ringier is selling out.
Though subject to regulatory approvals Ringier has sold 49 percent of the shares in each of Ringier Digital AG’s subsidiaries Scout24 Schweiz AG and Omnimedia AG. Scout24 Schweiz AG comprises online marketplaces for motor vehicles (autoscout24.ch, motoscout24.ch) and real estate (immoscout24.ch) as well as the anibis.ch general classifieds marketplace.
AutoScout24 is the number one among Switzerland’s online portals for new and used cars, while ImmoScout24 is the country’s leading online real-estate platform and anibis.ch is the largest general classifieds marketplace. Through its various platforms, the Scout24 Group operates the most comprehensive Swiss network of online marketplaces. In aggregate, these platforms attract some 21 million visits each month. Omnimedia AG is one of Switzerland’s leading digital marketing companies. In addition to offering its national and regional clients target-group-specific online advertising concepts, Omnimedia has exclusive marketing rights for Ringier’s Swiss Scout24 platforms.
KKR has invested in BMG Rights Management, Fotolia, ProSiebenSat.1, GoDaddy, InternetBrands and Mitchell International.
