In the 9m 2007 period the turnover of the Company increased by 4,2% reaching 106,1 million euros vs 101,9 million euros in 9m 2006. The improvement of the turnover was brought about by both the significant increase of the advertising revenues by 9,0% vs 9m 2006 and the increase of the revenues from the complimentary sales of the newspapers TO VIMA and TA NEA, that exceeded 8 million euros..
Also, the gross profit from 38,1 million euros in 9m 2006 reached 41,8 million euros in 2007, increased by 9,7%and. gross margin from stood at 39% in 9m 2007 against 37% in 2006. Despite the significant increase in the turnover, the administrative and selling expenses decreased by 2,1% (9m 2007: 44,4 million vs. 9m 2006: 45,4 million), contributing to a significant decrease of operating loss from -1,6 million euros at 30.9.2006 to -0,9 million euros at 30.9.2007. The net profit after tax was strengthened by profit from securities and investments and reached 5,4 million euros at 30.09.2007 against 2,2 million Euros at 30.9.2006, increased by 146%.
In the 9mt 2007 period on a consolidated basis the Group s turnover reached 211,8 million euros vs 194,2 million euros in the respective 2006 period, increased by 9%. The consolidated gross profit increased by 2,5% and reached 60,2 million euros against 58,7 million euros in 2006. Also In 2007 the consolidated EΒΙDTA presented a slight decrease, standing at 4,7 millions euros vs 5,5 million euros for Q3 2006 as the Q3 2006 EBIDTA included 3,5 millions euros extraordinary income.
Finally within the context of the strategic decision of the Group s Management to focus the Group's business activities exclusively on the media sector, DOL SA sold its investment in non-media companies PaperPack - I. Tsoukaridis S.A, Action Plan SA and Action Plan Human Resources SA. Furthermore the cash proceeds received from these sales, approximately 6 million euros, will be utilized, according to the 3-year business plan, to further deploy the Group?s business and ventures and in the media sector.