Sales of the group, which also controls radio stations, a billboard firm and a color magazine business, stood at zł.291 million against a median forecast of zł.283 million, up from zł.210 million in the first quarter of 2004.
"These are very good results, first of all because the ad market grew faster than expected. Healthy revenues from Agora's book projects also impacted the bottom line," said Wlodzimierz Giller, analyst at DB Securities in Warsaw.
"Today the stock should rise and push higher all companies related to the advertising sector," he added. Poland's other listed stocks include television broadcaster TVN and radio station owner Broker FM.
Agora's shares hit a 17-month high in February, and the company is currently valued at around zł.3.2 billion.
Agora's CEO, Wanda Rapaczyńska, however, warned that the result will not be repeated over the rest of the year. "I would not get used to the 38 percent growth rate from the first quarter, because in the same period of last year we did not have book publishing projects and [the new magazine] Avanti, so there was a low-base effect," she said.
The company estimates that Poland's advertising market grew by 13 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, with the outdoor sector showing the biggest gain of 34 percent. (Reuters) JT
Results for Agora, the owner of popular daily Gazeta Wyborcza, follow a wave of faster-than-expected growth in the ad market and successful publishing. In the same period of last year the concern reported a zł.9.3 million net loss.
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