NMG half year profit grows to Shs28.4b

Kampala.

The re-organisation of Nation Media Group (NMG), the parent company of Monitor Publications Limited and NTV Uganda, has led the company to post an increment in half-year profit for 2017.

On Wednesday, the Nairobi Stock Exchange listed firm, announced that half year after tax profit had gone up marginally to Ksh819.8m (Shs28.4b) from Ksh811.5m (Shs28b) in the first half of 2016. NMG was able to post the profit even after revenues declined.

“The Group performance was positive, despite the decline in revenue arising from reduced advertising volumes and a challenging regional business environment. The drop in revenues was mitigated by sustained interest income, improved debt collections and savings from the reorganisation undertaken last year,” reads, in part, a notice issued by NMG company secretary J C Kinyua.

Across the entire NMG owned companies, only two - Business Daily and NTV Kenya – recorded an increment in costs. In total, NMG was able to bring down total costs by 8.6 per cent to Ksh4.1b (Shs142b), which offset the 6.4 per cent reduction in total revenue. NMG is the largest media group in Eastern and Central Africa.

Mr Joe Muganda, the chief executive officer NMG, also attributed the performance to lower operating expenses, recovery of pending bills from the government and continued growth of digital advertising revenue.

The company’s digital business saw operating income more than double, with revenue surging 54 per cent, as NMG aggressively leveraged on its flagship portal, in Kenya and that of other 15 websites to turn online audiences into revenue streams. The company has embarked on digital strategy across the entire region.

“We must protect and grow our current business but we also need to be innovative in order to open new revenue streams and drive digital growth,” Mr Mugunda added.

NTV Kenya was the best-performing subsidiary in the Group, growing its revenue by 18 per cent. Additionally, NTV Uganda and Monitor Publications Limited operating profit grew by 100 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.

Interim dividend maintained
NMG directors declared an interim dividend of per share Ksh2.5 (Shs86.5) for the half year. This is the same amount paid out as an interim dividend over the same period in 2016. The total interim dividend payout will amount to Ksh471.4 million (Shs16.3b), which is 57.5 per cent of the total after tax profit. Notably, the Earnings Per Share rose by 4.7 per cent to Ksh4.4 (Shs152.24).

Ugandan outlets
NMG’s outlets in Uganda include Daily Monitor, NTV Uganda, The East African, Dembe FM, Kfm, Ennyanda and Spark TV. The outlets have the biggest audience footprint online, with Nairobi-listed NMG boasting a monthly audience of more than 26 million unique users across East Africa - higher than Facebook.