Nine blames profit and revenue falls on weak ad market
Nine Entertainment’s profit has fallen marginally, as has revenue which is down by 2 per cent, it revealed this morning in it’s half yearly results.
The company’s $88.8m profit result was down 6.7 per cent.
The company also announced a share buyback worth $150m over 12 months in a bid to shore up it’s share price which yesterday closed at $1.855. The share price rose 8.5 per cent in early trading today after news of the buyback broke.
The company’s EBITDA fell 9 per cent to $171m and it carries $491m in debt, down $47m from the previous reporting period.
Nine CEO David Gyngell said a weak advertising market was to blame for the false in profit and revenue.
“In what has been a difficult advertising market, NEC has reported a solid result. We again improved our revenue share and maintained our ratings leadership in all key advertiser demographics. We are confident about our schedule for 2015, and see a clear path to our 40% revenue share target,” said Gyngell.
Gyngell said audience performance on the back of the Cricket World Series had not met expectations, while the poor performance of the flagship Australian Drama Gallipoli which launched earlier this year had been a a disappointing surprise. However he added the uptake of the recently launched online streaming service Stan and digital growth in the Daily Mail joint venture had been strong.
“The ongoing integration of our leading television and digital businesses highlights the value of owning and controlling both forms of media, while our Nine Live business continues to provide unique marketing and expansion opportunities as the business evolves,” he said.
Ticketek Australia and the Sydney Arena also recorded lowers sales in the period the company said.
The groups digital operations recorded a slight increase in revenue up 2.4 per cent to $81.3m but EBITDA suffered a big decline, down 21.2 per cent to $10.8m.
Robert Burton-Bradley
….so nothing to do with an over bullish sales team, consistent under deliveries and CPM’s running through the roof then?
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Have to agree with ‘agency guy’. Nine’s digital service level has dropped considerably over the last two years.
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This is the just the first slide of what will be an ever deepening decline of a defunct business model. A share buy back is just ridiculous: $150m would surely by you better programming and staff….
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We work in a supply and demand industry, as long as agency demand continues, so will CPM inflation.
Maybe too many people have communications degrees and not enough with business degrees.
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So Nines measure of success includes share of spend on TV. Really? 40% of a shrinking pie won’t be attractive to shareholders.
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@John – Couldn’t have summed it up better myself.
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