Ströer SE & Co. KGaA today published its second-quarter and half-year 2026 figures, showing group revenue of EUR 1,037.4 million for the six months to June 30 and a widening gap between the company's digital screen business and every other line it operates.

The Cologne-based media house reported second-quarter revenue of EUR 541.8 million, up 7 percent on a reported basis and 4.2 percent organically against EUR 504.7 million in the same quarter of 2025. For the first half, reported revenue rose roughly 6 percent to EUR 1,037.4 million from EUR 980.2 million, with organic growth of 2.7 percent. The half-year financial report and the accompanying investor presentation were both dated August 13, 2026, and signed in Cologne by chief executive Udo Müller and chief financial officer Christoph Vilanek.

The organic figure marks a sharp acceleration. Ströer's second quarter of 2025 had recorded organic revenue contraction of 2.3 percent; the second quarter of 2026 turned that into growth of 4.2 percent, a swing of 6.5 percentage points. Across the half, organic growth improved from 0.5 percent to 2.7 percent. According to the reconciliation table in the interim report, acquisitions contributed EUR 37.4 million to reported half-year revenue and foreign exchange effects subtracted EUR 3.0 million, leaving organic expansion of EUR 26.7 million against a restated prior-year base of EUR 976.3 million.

Digital screens carry the core segment

Revenue in the OoH Media segment reached EUR 491.5 million in the first half, up 8.0 percent from EUR 454.9 million. The quarterly figure was stronger still: EUR 270.5 million in Q2 2026 against EUR 245.1 million a year earlier, a rise of 10.3 percent.

Underneath that headline, the product groups moved in opposite directions. Digital out-of-home revenue climbed 24.3 percent in the second quarter to EUR 115.6 million, and 18.5 percent across the half to EUR 206.7 million. Classic out-of-home, the poster and large-format business, generated EUR 138.2 million in the quarter, down 1.3 percent, and EUR 252.7 million across the half, down 1.0 percent. The company attributes part of that softness to an unusually high comparison base in the prior-year period. The Services product group, which covers local marketing of digital products to small and medium-sized customers, grew 37.8 percent in the quarter to EUR 16.7 million and 26.7 percent across the half to EUR 32.1 million.

Programmatic buying is where the divergence is widest. Ströer's investor presentation puts programmatic DOOH revenue growth at 45.0 percent in the second quarter and 29.3 percent across the first half, both measured on reported net revenues. That places automated trading roughly twice as fast as the digital screen business it sits inside, and it repeats a pattern visible across the sector. JCDecaux reported half-year 2026 programmatic revenue of 102.8 million euros, up 30.9 percent organically, lifting the automated share of its digital sales to 12.3 percent from 10.1 percent a year earlier.

Segment earnings followed revenue. Adjusted EBITDA in OoH Media rose 10.3 percent to EUR 224.3 million for the half from EUR 203.3 million, with the adjusted margin improving to 45.6 percent from 44.7 percent. Stripped of IFRS 16 lease accounting, the improvement is larger: adjusted EBITDA before IFRS 16 rose 23.2 percent to EUR 114.9 million, and the corresponding margin gained 2.9 percentage points to 23.4 percent.

Ströer's presentation credits the second-quarter performance to advertising campaigns around the football World Cup and to a giant screen it identifies as "The Whale." The tournament ran from June 11 to July 19, 2026, across the United States, Canada and Mexico, and drew more than 25 billion television advertising impressions in the United States alone according to iSpot measurement. Only the group-stage weeks fell inside the reporting period.

Measured against the German market

The presentation sets those numbers against Nielsen gross rate-card data for Germany, with the caveat printed on the slide that gross figures run approximately 6 to 7 percentage points above net revenues. On that basis, the German advertising market grew 1.9 percent in the second quarter and 1.1 percent across the half. Television fell 1.1 percent in the quarter and 1.3 percent across the half. Print fell 4.5 percent and 1.9 percent respectively. Radio added 2.9 percent in the quarter but slipped 0.5 percent across the half. Desktop and mobile grew 15.3 percent in the quarter and 10.9 percent across the half. German out-of-home as a whole gained 8.8 percent in the quarter and 5.6 percent for the half.

The comparison with global platforms remains lopsided. Alphabet reported net revenue growth of 24.2 percent in the quarter and 23.1 percent across the half; Meta posted 28.0 percent and 30.4 percent; YouTube 12.9 percent and 11.8 percent. Those are global bases and cannot be read directly against a German operator's domestic figures, a point the slide itself does not make. What the German column does show is that out-of-home was the fastest-growing offline channel in the country over both periods, and that Ströer's own core segment outpaced the domestic out-of-home rate in each.

The same structure appeared three months earlier. First-quarter 2026 results published on May 12 showed DOOH growth of 12.0 percent and programmatic DOOH at 12.1 percent against a German market that expanded 0.8 percent, with OoH Media revenue of 221 million euros. The second quarter roughly doubled both digital growth rates.

Digital and Dialog: revenue up, margin down

The Digital & Dialog Media segment posted revenue of EUR 475.6 million for the half, up 14.4 percent from EUR 415.9 million. Organic growth was 5.4 percent. The gap between the two reflects call centre locations acquired in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Within the segment, the Digital product group, which covers online advertising and programmatic marketing, grew 8.3 percent in the second quarter to EUR 113.4 million but only 2.6 percent across the half to EUR 208.1 million. The company states that a strong second quarter more than offset a first-quarter contraction. The Dialog product group, comprising call centre and door-to-door sales activities, generated EUR 267.4 million for the half, up 25.5 percent on a reported basis and 8.0 percent organically. Quarterly organic growth in Dialog was 7.4 percent.

Earnings moved the other way. Adjusted segment EBITDA fell 4.0 percent to EUR 56.5 million from EUR 58.9 million, and the adjusted margin dropped 2.3 percentage points to 11.9 percent. Ströer attributes the decline to a shift in product mix in the Digital business and to higher minimum wages raising personnel costs in the labour-intensive Dialog operation. The segment employed 9,053 of the group's 13,270 staff at June 30.

The Digital business has been expanding its addressable inventory. In June 2026, Zattoo named Ströer Media Solutions as the exclusive external sales partner for its German video and connected TV inventory, a deal that adds addressable big-screen impressions to a portfolio already spanning several thousand websites and the t-online.de portal.

The non-core drag

DaaS & E-Commerce revenue fell 11.2 percent to EUR 155.8 million from EUR 175.5 million. Both product groups declined. Data as a Service, which houses Statista, generated EUR 72.4 million against EUR 82.5 million, a fall of 12.2 percent on a reported basis and 4.4 percent organically once the sale of a strategy and consulting unit at the end of 2025 and negative currency effects are stripped out. The E-Commerce group, which is AsamBeauty, produced EUR 83.4 million against EUR 93.0 million, down 10.3 percent, which the company ties to subdued German consumer spending.

Segment adjusted EBITDA collapsed to EUR 11.4 million from EUR 20.3 million, a decline of 43.6 percent, with the margin falling to 7.3 percent from 11.6 percent. On a quarterly basis the fall was 35.2 percent. Müller framed the core business as compensating for this in his statement accompanying the release.

"The figures for the first half of 2026 confirm our operating strength, and we are developing as planned. OoH Media in particular continued to perform positively and sustainably, while Digital Out of Home, with revenue growth of 19 percent, is the key growth driver of our core business. This enables us to offset the comparatively weaker momentum in our non-core business areas," said Udo Müller, CEO of Ströer SE & Co. KGaA. The 19 percent figure rounds the 18.5 percent half-year DOOH growth stated elsewhere in the same release.

Group earnings, cash and leverage

Adjusted group EBITDA rose 3 percent to EUR 273.0 million from EUR 266.3 million. The adjusted EBITDA margin narrowed to 26.3 percent from 27.2 percent, because revenue grew faster than earnings. Adjusted EBIT gained 6 percent to EUR 114.9 million and adjusted net income 7 percent to EUR 55.9 million.

Reported figures tell a different story. Unadjusted EBITDA fell to EUR 254.4 million from EUR 260.1 million, reported EBIT to EUR 90.7 million from EUR 95.3 million, and consolidated profit for the period to EUR 38.5 million from EUR 45.1 million. Basic earnings per share came in at EUR 0.61 against EUR 0.66. The divergence sits in exceptional items, which tripled to EUR 18.7 million from EUR 6.2 million, with EUR 9.5 million of that falling in the second quarter alone. Net finance costs rose to EUR 35.8 million from EUR 31.1 million. Return on capital employed stood at 19.1 percent, down from 20.7 percent.

Cash flow from operating activities improved substantially, reaching EUR 161.3 million against EUR 145.8 million, driven mainly by a EUR 17.8 million favourable swing in working capital and a EUR 9.3 million contribution from changes in provisions. Investments before M&A rose 29 percent to EUR 51.2 million, a figure the interim report attributes largely to the purchase of a plot of land adjacent to the group's Cologne headquarters. Free cash flow before M&A transactions came to EUR 110.0 million against EUR 106.2 million; after IFRS 16 lease principal repayments of EUR 111.9 million, the adjusted figure was negative EUR 1.9 million, close to the prior year's negative EUR 1.6 million.

Net debt rose to EUR 995.8 million at June 30 from EUR 870.7 million at the end of 2025, an increase of EUR 125.1 million. The leverage ratio, calculated as net debt to adjusted EBITDA excluding IFRS 16 effects, reached 2.60 against 2.31 at year-end and 2.47 at the same point in 2025. The company describes the rise as seasonal, tied to the EUR 102.0 million dividend distribution and a EUR 23.5 million share buyback. Note loans with a nominal value of EUR 230.0 million were reclassified from non-current to current liabilities because they mature in June 2027. Group equity fell to EUR 399.2 million from EUR 491.5 million, taking the equity ratio to 14.1 percent from 17.5 percent, or 21.5 percent from 26.3 percent when lease liabilities are excluded. Cash stood at EUR 71.5 million.

The shareholder meeting was held virtually on June 3, 2026, with around 42 million no-par-value shares represented, equivalent to roughly 75 percent of share capital. It approved a dividend of EUR 1.85 per share. The general partner, Ströer Management SE, resolved on March 23, 2026 to run a buyback of up to EUR 50.0 million; the programme began on March 26 and was paused on April 22 after 687,263 shares had been acquired. Those shares were retired on June 5, reducing subscribed capital to EUR 55,161,050.00 from EUR 55,848,313.00.

The interim report discloses that the land acquired near the Cologne headquarters cost EUR 9.8 million and was sold by a company in which Müller holds an indirect minority interest and in which Dirk Ströer also holds an indirect stake. Two put-option settlements also feature. Under an agreement dated June 23, 2026, Ströer acquired the remaining 49.0 percent of Italy's Dea Group, a dialogue marketing business, for EUR 15.0 million, settled by bank transfer on July 3. On July 30, after the reporting date, the group bought a further 7.6 percent of Edgar Ambient Media Group GmbH for EUR 5.4 million, taking its holding to 90.0 percent, with a put option remaining over the residual 10.0 percent.

Headcount fell to 13,270 at June 30 from 13,743 at the end of 2025. The press release boilerplate cites around 13,700 employees at around 100 locations, a figure that predates the reporting-date count in the interim report. The same boilerplate places the shares in the SDAX index of Deutsche Börse; earlier PPC Land coverage of the company, including the March 2026 full-year results and AI platform announcement, referenced an MDAX listing.

Outlook

For the third quarter, Ströer expects OoH Media revenue growth in the mid-single-digit percentage range, Digital & Dialog Media growth broadly in line with second-quarter developments, and a low double-digit percentage decline in DaaS & E-Commerce, the latter including the disposal of the Statista strategy and consulting unit. Full-year 2026 guidance is confirmed, and the board of management states that it stands by the forecast set out in the 2025 annual report.

The macroeconomic backdrop described in the interim report is cautious. Citing the OECD's June 2026 Economic Outlook, the company notes forecast global growth of 2.8 percent for 2026 and 3.1 percent for 2027, with German real GDP growth of 0.8 percent in 2026 rising to 1.2 percent in 2027. The ifo Institute's June 18, 2026 forecast puts German growth at 0.8 percent in both years. The report lists a potential decline in advertising spend in core markets as a risk should a significant recession materialise, while concluding that no risks currently threaten the company's ability to continue as a going concern.

Why this matters for media buyers

Three numbers in this release carry beyond Ströer's own accounts.

The first is the 45.0 percent programmatic DOOH growth rate in a quarter when the German advertising market grew 1.9 percent on gross rate-card terms. Automated trading of outdoor inventory is compounding at rates the surrounding market cannot explain, which means the growth is coming from budget reallocation rather than category expansion. The same signal appears in the French operator's books and in the German market specifically: JCDecaux told analysts in July that Germany leads all its markets at 42.7 percent of digital revenue traded programmatically, against a group average of 12.3 percent. Germany has become the most automated large out-of-home market in Europe, and planners buying screens there are increasingly buying them through demand-side platforms rather than through outdoor specialists.

The second is the 1.3 percent decline in classic out-of-home revenue during a quarter when the digital equivalent grew 24.3 percent. The two lines are not converging. Static poster inventory has become the part of the portfolio that does not participate in the automated buying stack, and its revenue trajectory reflects that. For advertisers still allocating to traditional formats, the pricing and availability picture is set by a shrinking pool of buyers.

The third is the margin behaviour. Group revenue grew about 6 percent while adjusted EBITDA grew 3 percent and reported EBIT fell. Higher minimum wages in the labour-intensive dialogue business, a shifting product mix in digital, and a consumer-facing e-commerce unit under pressure all pulled against the screen business. That combination is not unique to one company. German television and print declined again in both the quarter and the half, RTL Deutschland reported audience gains alongside previously disclosed advertising revenue pressure, and OTTO Advertising's 49 percent retail media growth in fiscal 2025/26 came from a channel outside the traditional media mix entirely. Budget is moving toward addressable, measurable and automated inventory within a domestic market barely growing in aggregate. Ströer's half-year statement is a detailed record of what that movement looks like inside a single set of accounts.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Ströer SE & Co. KGaA, the Cologne-based out-of-home and digital media group, represented by its general partner Ströer Management SE. Chief executive Udo Müller and chief financial officer Christoph Vilanek signed the half-year report. Statista and AsamBeauty sit inside the DaaS & E-Commerce segment; Ströer Media Solutions handles the Zattoo connected TV sales mandate.

What: Second-quarter and half-year 2026 results. Group revenue of EUR 1,037.4 million for the half, up about 6 percent reported and 2.7 percent organically; Q2 revenue of EUR 541.8 million, up 7 percent reported and 4.2 percent organically. Digital out-of-home grew 24.3 percent in the quarter and 18.5 percent across the half, with programmatic DOOH up 45.0 percent and 29.3 percent respectively, while classic out-of-home fell 1.3 percent in the quarter. Adjusted group EBITDA rose 3 percent to EUR 273.0 million, but reported EBIT fell to EUR 90.7 million and consolidated profit to EUR 38.5 million. DaaS & E-Commerce adjusted EBITDA fell 43.6 percent to EUR 11.4 million. Net debt rose to EUR 995.8 million and the leverage ratio to 2.60.

When: The reporting period covers January 1 to June 30, 2026. The press release, investor presentation and half-year financial report were all published on Thursday, August 13, 2026. The next scheduled disclosure is the nine-month statement on November 12, 2026.

Where: Cologne, Germany, where Ströer is headquartered at Ströer-Allee 1. Operations centre on the German advertising market, with the group commercialising around 300,000 advertising media, several thousand websites and the t-online.de portal. The Dea Group transaction concerns Italy.

Why: The figures document a widening structural split inside a single media group. Automated digital screen inventory is compounding at rates far above the underlying German advertising market, static poster revenue is contracting, and margin pressure is coming from labour costs in dialogue marketing and weak consumer demand in e-commerce. For media buyers, the release provides a dated, audited-basis record of how quickly budget is shifting toward programmatic out-of-home in Europe's largest domestic market for automated outdoor trading.