dpa group reports moderate decline in turnover in 2024, parent companysaw growth and stable profit - Successful investments in AI expertise(FOTO)-------------------------------------------------------------- Annual report 2024 https: / / ots.de / HcsUgm--------------------------------------------------------------Hamburg - The dpa group saw a mixed financial year in 2024: At the grouplevel, dpa reported a moderate decline in turnover, while the parent companyDeutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH grew and generated a stable profit.

dpa group reports moderate decline in turnover in 2024, parent companysaw growth and stable profit - Successful investments in AI expertise(FOTO)-------------------------------------------------------------- Annual report 2024 https://ots.de/HcsUgm--------------------------------------------------------------

Hamburg (ots) - The dpa group saw a mixed financial year in 2024: At the grouplevel, dpa reported a moderate decline in turnover, while the parent companyDeutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH grew and generated a stable profit. Group turnoverfell to 161.5 million euros (2023: 165.9 million euros). This was mainly due tothe end of the extensive projects related to the COVID-19 pandemic. By contrast,dpa GmbH increased its turnover to 105.5 million euros (previous year: 104.3million euros). The net profit remained at a good level of 1.4 million euros(2023: also 1.4 million euros). Germany's largest news agency announced thistoday at its 76th shareholders' meeting in Hamburg.

"Overall, dpa can look back on a successful year," said dpa CEO Peter Kropsch."Despite difficult economic conditions, we achieved growth in turnover in ourcore business and maintained our earnings. In addition, we invested heavily inthe future technology of AI, established an AI team and are already successfullymarketing our first products. At the group level, the decline in thepandemic-related project business, which was mainly located in dpa's mecomsubsidiary, could not be fully offset."

The subsidiaries of dpa achieved remarkable results in their respective areas.For example, news aktuell, which specialises in PR services, once again made thelargest contribution to the success of the dpa group. The image subsidiary dpaPicture-Alliance succeeded in significantly increasing sales and profits in ahighly competitive market. Despite extensive internal restructuring, dpa-infocomonce again achieved a very good result with its data products. As in previousyears, the subsidiaries thus represent a key pillar of the dpa group's positiveperformance.

"With the end of the traffic-light coalition, the US election campaign and theongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, we have coped impressively well with anextremely intense year in the news. The journalistic strength and quality of theagency have once again proven their worth," said dpa Editor-in-chief SvenGösmann. "With the rollout of our multimedia production system Rubix and ourfocus on developing our video offering, we have successfully advanced ourdigital first strategy."

Focus on innovation and digital transformation

In 2024 dpa focused on technological innovations. In collaboration with theUS-based AI company you.com, it developed its own RAG (Retrieval AugmentedGeneration) model, which enables editors to efficiently search dpa content. Thespecially-developed AI Research assistant works like a response engine. In thiscontext, the central platform dpa-news was comprehensively modernised andsuccessfully launched on the market in the first quarter of 2025.

The introduction of the Rubix production system represents another milestone.Its digital first approach optimises collaboration within the editorial team andforms the backbone of the new multimedia basic service.

International expansion and strategic partnerships

dpa has also intensified its international activities. Together with the AP newsagency, it launched the Arabic-language "Global Arabic News Service," whichcombines European and global perspectives. The editorial team is based in ajoint hub in Cairo. In addition, dpa increased its stake in the British businessnews agency Alliance News to 10.7 per cent (previously 3.9 per cent) in order tostrengthen its presence in the area of global financial information.

The "European Newsroom" (enr) project, which promotes exchanges between Europeannews agencies, was also expanded. A total of 23 agencies are now part of thisinitiative, which is supported by the European Commission.

75 years of dpa: An anniversary marked by press freedom

In 2024, dpa celebrated its 75th anniversary with a series of events. Aparticular highlight was the "Your News, Your Future" news camp, in which around300 schoolchildren explored topics such as disinformation and press freedom. Inaddition, the academic publication "Im Dienst der Nachricht" (In the Service ofthe News) was launched, which traces the history of dpa since its foundation in1949.

2024 annual report with AI as its main theme

The current annual report deals with the topic of artificial intelligence andoutlines the agency's AI strategy together with specific areas of action. Italso describes the use of AI in fact-checking. A photo gallery illustrates why,despite all the openness towards new technology, journalistic values remainimportant. The annual report documents this using the example of theirreplaceable work of dpa's photographers, who deliver authentic and factualimages of events and people every day.

About dpa:

The German Press Agency (dpa) was founded in 1949 and is one of the world'sleading independent news agencies. dpa supplies media groups, companies andorganisations with editorial content. This includes texts, photos, videos,graphics, radio reports and other formats. As an internationally active agency,dpa reports in seven languages. Approximately 1,000 journalists work from around140 locations in Germany and abroad. Around 170 German media companies are dpashareholders. The central editorial office, headed by Editor-in-Chief SvenGösmann, is located in Berlin. The executive board, headed by CEO Peter Kropsch,is based at the company's headquarters in Hamburg. The chairman of thesupervisory board is Daniel Schöningh (Ippen Media Group, Munich).

At home and abroad, media with various editorial orientations place their trustin dpa's non-partisan, neutral and verified reporting. dpa works according tothe principles laid down in its statutes: independent of world views, commercialenterprises or governments. dpa rejects financial contributions from governmentagencies, companies and private individuals. dpa only accepts project-relatedfunding in a small number of selected cases and after careful consideration. Alist of these projects can be found on our website.(https://www.dpa.com/en/about-dpa/independence)

Pressekontakt:

dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbHJens PetersenLeiter KonzernkommunikationTelefon: +49 40 4113 32843E-Mail: mailto:pressestelle@dpa.com

Weiteres Material: http://presseportal.de/pm/8218/6067331OTS: dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH