Depending upon which headline you check, you will have read today that Bertelsmann’s profits rose or fell in this first quarter, and both are true. In a brief trading statement, the company said sales rose from â¬3.56 billion to â¬3.63 billion. Operating EBIT, generally their preferred measure of income, fell 16 percent from last year’s record quarter at â¬245 million, and regular EBIT was down 18 percent. But total “group profit” more than doubled, to 94 million, due in part to lower interest payments. No division breakdowns are provided in the quarterly report.
