to science education and the wider cause of reading the holtzbrinck group aspires to provide first class service to our authors researchers academics educators librarians and readers . we strive to be inspiring and enabling in the creation of great works and networks . with quality and reach we provide our customers with both oversight and insight in a fast changing environment . over the years the holtzbrinck family has had the privilege of uniting world leading publishing houses across the globe . many of them go back a long time like nature 1869 macmillan 1843 springer 1842 and s. fischer 1886 . many of them were started up just within the last decade like sapling readcube or netdoktor . many others found a sponsor in our funds like holtzbrinck ventures . as much as we are proud when we succeed in developing the best our group has to offer into something even better sometimes through disruption we take pride in equal measure in tradition and the legacy of many great minds . it is the long term view where we believe the benefit for all can be found . values quality our tradition is built on a foundation of hard work intelligence and skill . our authors including many nobel prize winners our readers and our customers continue to be entitled to nothing but the best . individuality our intellectually and culturally diverse company is driven by independent thought and actions . we think in terms of the individual and collaborative networks not in terms of hierarchy . growth for us growth is not a purpose in itself . growth comes instead from our organic core the company s entrepreneurial spirit and dedicated long term view . responsibility our responsibility extends beyond our daily work we are committed in a larger sense to having a positive effect on the earth and on the society in which we live . at holtzbrinck we are committed to the long term health of the earth s many cultures and societies as well as to the planet itself . we work on many problems in many countries with our goals and ambitions most frequently set by the individual passions of the people who come to us . we deliver remarkable value through our quality publishing and services but we also actively pursue the greater good . the following offers a sample of achievements made within our group we are grateful first and foremost to all of our authors many of whom have won prestigious awards . in the field of literature we congratulate john m. coetzee elfriede jelinek harold pinter orhan pamuk doris lessing jean marie le cl zio herta m ller mario vargas llosa tomas transtr mer and alice munro for having won the nobel prize for literature in the last decade . scientific american in its 168 year history has published over 240 articles from nobel laureates including albert einstein linus pauling francis crick hans a bethe steven weinberg harold varmus and al gore . nature has published many scientific breakthroughs since its start in 1869 including francis crick and james watson s 1953 seminal double helix paper david baltimore s 1970 work on the enzyme reverse transcriptase as well as andrew z. fire and craig c. mello s 1998 rna interference paper . for further information please visit www.nature.com history the macmillan higher education group celebrates emilio segr murray gell mann paul berg david hubel leon lederman paul crutzen eric kandel and paul krugman as its nobel laureate text book authors . the palgrave s economics for the curious would not have been possible without major contributions from robert solow editor vernon smith dale mortensen michael spence peter diamond erik maskin roger myerson john f. nash and william sharpe . if you want to learn more about our sustainability efforts please visit the following sites responsible business sustainability it is a pleasure and privilege for us to support the following institutions and societies amongst many others cancer research uk and various cancer charities in the usa carbonfund.org usa common purpose uk germany and south africa creative commons deutsche schillergesellschaft e. v. deutsches literaturarchiv marbach euroscience open forum f rderverein kinderfreundliches stuttgart e.v. germany goethe institut germany international association of teachers of english literacy partners usa london university of the arts uk macmillan cancer support uk max planck society germany national book foundation usa new york public library usa oxfam uk pen international pilotlight foundation australia the publishing training centre uk robert koch stiftung s. fischer stiftung germany skip lunch fight hunger new york stifterverband f r die deutsche wissenschaft germany stiftung lesen germany the american academy in berlin germany the nature conservancy usa tyca outstanding community college teacher award usa uk science media centre united jewish appeal usa weizmann institute of science israel facts & figures our portfolio is characterized by committed investment in a healthy mix of organic growth and targeted acquisitions . in times of significant fluctuations and change in the global economy we aim for a sound equity ratio rate as a trustworthy basis to work from . this principle not only ensures the constant attribution of adequate resources for our entrepreneurial dynamism and ambition it also enables our teams to deliver on a long term vision . revenue in 2014 by business area revenue in 2014 by region a healthy balance sheet and financial resources provide a strong foundation for our entrepreneurial activities and allow us to focus on long term strategic goals . we want to continue to grow and achieve sustainable results . to help us in achieving these objectives we focus on the following business fields macmillan science and education science and education macmillan publishers fiction and non fiction and holtzbrinck digital information & services internet companies news media and services . the long term 50 % share in the die zeit newspaper is being managed in the holtzbrinck digital information & services business field . in may 2015 the majority of the business field macmillan science and education namely nature publishing group palgrave macmillan and macmillan education was merged with springer science business media into the new joint venture springer nature . this strategic merger brought together these dynamic publishing houses with more than 150 years of history behind them as well as complimentary geographic footprints and brand portfolios . the consolidated revenue for the 2014 fiscal year amounted to 1 727.1 million . the net increase in revenue relative to the prior year is due to organic growth currency effects and the strategic divestments made within the portfolio . after adjusting for portfolio and currency effects the holtzbrinck publishing group recorded an organic increase in revenue of 26.4 million or 1.6 % for the past financial year . the holtzbrinck publishing group digital products and services revenues continued to grow strongly and comprise 29.3 % of total revenues in 2014 . the companies of the holtzbrinck publishing group reached an portfolio adjusted operating income before interest taxes depreciation amortisation and extraordinary effects operating ebitda of 170.6 million for the 2014 fiscal year which is a slight decrease of 2.6 % compared to the prior year . this result has already absorbed high development costs for new and in particular digital products and business models . overall the group level consolidated operating ebitda decreased to 172.1 million particularly as a result of divestment activities . the earnings before taxes of the financial year 2014 increased by a plus of 6.1 million to 102.9 million . as of 31 december 2014 the remaining net debt stood at 54.3 million . with a leverage ratio ratio of net debt to operating ebitda at the end of the financial year of 0.3 x and an equity ratio of 43.8 % the holtzbrinck publishing group has secured its long term stability and at the same time created room for future investments . revenue development according to region in m 2014 2013 germany 20 1 % 346 6 20 7 % 356 4 united kingdom 8 1 % 140 6 7 8 % 133 9 rest of europe 11 6 % 201 1 11 4 % 196 3 north america 39 5 % 682 1 39 7 % 682 8 other regions 20 7 % 356 7 20 4 % 349 9 total 1.727 1 1.719 3 revenue development according to business field in m 2014 2013 macmillan publishers 43 0 % 735 6 43 3 % 721 2 macmillan science and education 53 0 % 907 2 53 4 % 888 8 holtzbrinck digital information & services 7 6 % 129 5 6 7 % 111 1 consolidation of internal revenue items 3 6 % 62 2 3 4 % 56 7 revenue of the group portfolio at the balance sheet date 1.710 1 1.664 4 disposed companies 17 0 54 9 total 1.727 1 1.719 3 other financial key figures in m 2014 2013 operating ebitda of the group portfolio at the balance sheet date 170 6 175 1 operating ebitda consolidated total 172 1 180 8 pre tax earnings 102 9 96 8 balance sheet total 2.214 8 2.080 2 net financial position 54 3 30 3 equity ratio 43 8 % 43 3 % consolidated revenue without minority stakeholdings adjusted for extraordinary and non recurring effects including operating earnings consolidated according to the equity method calculated on the basis of the total from equity in accordance with ias 32 and other long term capital provided by partners shareholders countries & markets our offices enable sales in 120 countries our team executive board stefan von holtzbrinck chief executive officer john sargent chief executive officer macmillan publishers jens schwanewedel chief financial officer supervisory board prof. klaus dieter lehmann chairman bernd scheifele deputy chairman prof. j rgen mlynekmonika schoeller partners monika schoellerstefan von holtzbrinck history faith in tradition and the courage to innovate today these qualities characterize the three dynamic and globally structured business areas springer nature science and education macmillan publishers fiction and non fiction as well as holtzbrinck digital information & services internet companies news media and services . 2000 today in 2001 dieter von holtzbrinck passed on the management of the company to his brother stefan von holtzbrinck 1963 leaving the company five years later to set up a family foundation . in the context of a far reaching digital reorientation the investment emphasis was placed on new internet based business models on the education and science sector as well as on the opening up of new markets and opportunities in new language environments outside the german speaking countries . the sale of newspapers except for the stakes held in die zeit were completed with a view to strengthening our focus on the course embarked upon by our three divisions . 1990 s the company further pursued its long term interests in the area of literature science and education in acquiring farrar straus & giroux and the macmillan group whose portfolio includes nature macmillan education st. martin s press pan macmillan and tor amongst others . 1980 s georg dieter von holtzbrinck 1941 took over the company helm from his father in 1980 . domestically the main focus was increasingly placed on expanding the newspaper sector ultimately leading to the acquisition of die zeit . in addition the book activities were extended internationally through the acquisition of henry holt ; by contrast in 1989 the book club activities were discontinued . in the mid 1980s the publishing group deepened its international commitment in the area of science and education with the acquisition of scientific american and w.h.freeman . 1970 s in 1971 georg von holtzbrinck decided to draw together the groups prospering activities in a holding company the georg von holtzbrinck gmbh publishing group and to operate it on a decentralized basis . 1945 1970 during the years of reconstruction georg von holtzbrinck acquired the hausb cherei in 1948 which merged with the deutsche b cherbund german books association in the 50 s.