BERLIN, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Strong online sales have boosted half-year revenue and profits at Axel-Springer, the German publishing house announced on Friday.

According to figures presented by Axel-Springer, corporate revenue grew by 5.9 percent between January and June 2018 to a total of 1.6 billion euros (1.86 billion U.S. dollars). During the same period, the Berlin-based company recorded earnings before interest, profits, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of 335 million euros (plus 12 percent).

Axel-Springer is one of world's largest publishing houses, recording total revenue of 3.6 billion euros in 2017. Among others, the media company is the owner of major German newspaper like BILD and Welt.

Commenting on his company's positive half-year performance on Friday, chief executive officer (CEO) Mathias Doepfner emphasized the crucial contribution to earnings made by its fast-growing digital division. Doepfner described the development of the unit as a "milestone" which showed that Axel-Springer could "increasingly monetize journalistic content in the digital world."

Axel-Springer has launched an online-only economics- and finance portal called Business Insider which achieved its first ever profits ahead of schedule during the first half of the year. The company confirmed an earlier forecast for "low two-digit" overall Ebitda growth in 2018 on Friday while lifting its prediction for organic revenue growth in the digital division slightly.

The ongoing re-orientation of Axel-Springer towards online content led to a further increase in the share of total corporate revenue accounted for by digital sales to 80 percent between January and June. Online job-, real estate- and automotive portals hereby made the biggest contribution to the growth of the division.

"We are investing and we are growing. The Classifieds (classified media division, note) in particular showcased a very dynamic development and have made a decisive contribution to a successful first half-year at Axel-Springer," Doepfner said.