The Weka Specialist Publishing House for Public Authorities and Industry was founded by Werner and Karin Mützel in 1973. Conceived as a German specialist publishing group with an international focus, Weka has grown to become a corporate group with more than 20 companies throughout Europe offering a wide range of business services in the B2B and B2C markets.

Analysis & Key Developments

Financial

WEKA closed fiscal 2014 with slight growth. Group revenues accounted for 235 million EUR against 229 million EUR in 2013. The share of revenues generated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland accounted for 181 million EUR against 186 million EUR in 2013. The Group had total assets of 198 million EUR (against 95 million EUR in 2013) and an equity ratio of 58% (after 60% in 2013).

Ownership, mergers & acquisition, internal organization

WEKA Group is solely owend by Werner Mütel and his family. In January 2014, legal and tax publisher Deubner, a subsidary of WEKA Holding, purchased the client information products for tax accounting from WIADOK; and with the acquisition of Comundi, a seminar and training company in Paris, WEKA became the third largest seminar provider in France. In Switzerland, WEKA Business Media acquired 80% shares of Lernwerkstatt Olten, a training provider for educational professionals.

Digital

Over the last ten year, the WEKA Media Group saw the share of print business decreasing from 82% to 30%, while digital products accounted for more than 50%. The company expects a rise in digital for 3-4% until 2015.

Earlier Developments

Internal organization

In 2013, Editions WEKA in France acquired the Paris-based training provider MB Formation, and WEKA Media Publishing bought Screenguide.

WEKA’s French subsidiary CMT bought Agricommand, which specializes in online services for agricultural chemistry. Weka Holding bought Info-Techno, an Austrian database vendor for building materials and tenders; Blogwerk, a Swiss social media agency; Cologne-based fotocommunity, the largest online photo community with 1.3 million members and 140 million hits each month; and Hoppenstedt, a publisher of B2B journals founded in 1926, purchased from the Swedish Bisnode Group. Hoppenstedt will now operate under the brand Weka Business Medien.

Weka’s media division acquired the German seminar vendor TQM Training & Consulting, which covers 100 subjects such as industrial safety, innovation, quality, and risk management.

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