Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) today announced financial results for the full year and three months ended December 31, 2017.

Following the previously announced agreement to sell their Croatia and Slovenia operations, these businesses are classified as held for sale and presented as discontinued operations for all periods. The discussion in this release relates to our continuing operations in the four remaining operating segments.
Operational and financial highlights include:

- TV advertising revenues increased 8% at actual rates and 5% at constant rates in 2017.
- Carriage fees and subscription revenues increased 17% at actual rates and 15% at constant rates.
- OIBDA increased 21% at actual rates and 17% at constant rates, resulting in OIBDA margin expansion of nearly 300 basis points to 29%.
- Operating income increased 23% at actual rates and 19% at constant rates.
- Unlevered free cash flow in 2017 increased 19% at actual rates, while lower debt service obligations contributed to a 61% increase in net cash generated from continuing operations.
- In 2018, CME anticipate using increased cash generated by the business, proceeds from the sale of our operations in Croatia and Slovenia, expected proceeds from warrant exercises, and savings from lower debt service obligations to repay a significant balance of principal on our outstanding long-term debt. Taken together, these actions would result in a net leverage ratio around 3x by the end of the year.
- Upon closing of the sale transaction and repayment of debt, CME expect our average borrowing cost to be 4.5%.

Michael Del Nin, co-Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Our 2017 results represent our fourth straight year of both uninterrupted margin expansion and actual OIBDA growth above 20%. We anticipate that revenue growth, combined with our ongoing focus on cost containment, will drive another year of robust growth in profitability and continued margin expansion in 2018. Together with lower debt and reduced borrowing costs, this sets us up for a process of accelerated deleveraging that we think will characterize the year ahead."

Christoph Mainusch, co-Chief Executive Officer, added: "2017 was another outstanding year for CME and the positioning of our operations sets us up for additional success in 2018. We increased our audience share in three out of four countries, driving the gap between us and our closest commercial competition wider, both in prime time and all day. We also made important progress in diversifying our revenues. We expect to continue building on these successes, as we invest and innovate to remain the best partner for advertisers in our countries."