Outdoor companies triumph on the ASX as press and broadcasters see their growth stagnate
Outdoor advertising companies APO Outdoor and Ooh Media have emerged as the highest performing media companies on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in the last financial year, while regional broadcaster Prime Media Group were the poorest performer, in an analysis carried out by Mumbrella.
With the close of the 2015-2016 financial year yesterday investors in traditional media outlets suffered steady losses, while those who bargained on outdoor companies saw returns around the 100% mark in just 12 months.
Prime Media Group (ASX: PRT) saw its share price more than halve, falling by 54%, marking them as the poorest investment across the media board, with its market capitalisation now $120m, down from $250m a year ago. Ten shares fluctuated in part because of a major 10:1 share consolidation in January which saw their share price go from $0.14 to $1.15. Overall its market capitalisation fell from $500m a year ago to $343m today.
Nine Entertainment Co (NEC) dropped 31.5%, falling below the billion mark over the course of the year to $910m ,while Seven West Media (SWM) managed to keep its head above water with a 5.9% increase and a current market capitalisation of $1.61bn.
Southern Cross Austereo (SXL) was the top performer among the broadcasters with a share increase of 33%, with its share price surging from $0.93 to $1.24 and its market value currently standing at $957m.
Among major publishing companies Fairfax Media (FXJ), publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, was the only one to make a gain, its share price climbing by 12% to $2.08bn.
News Corp (NWS), publisher of The Australian and the Daily Telegraph, finished the year with a 15.7% drop. Its share price includes newspapers in Australia, the US, the UK and half of Foxtel. The US NASDAQ exchange lists News Corp’s market capitalisation as US$6.95bn.
APN News and Media (APN) steepened last year’s 3% decline, falling 18.2% from $4.94 a share to $4.04. Its total value is now $776.19m.
Last year’s top performer, media monitoring company iSentia Group (ISD), levelled out after last year’s 58% increase, climbing a steady 8.4%. However due to an issuing of new shares its market capitalisation dropped to $683m from $750m in 2014-2015.
Marketing company WPP finished the year with a market capitalisation of $873m. This comes after the merger of WPP local businesses with STW Group, which last year had a valuation of $260m.
Enero (EGG), which owns agencies such as Naked, BMF and Frank PR, more than recouped last year’s 27% drop, with a rise of 60% in its share price in the 2015-16 financial year, which rose from $0.78 to $1.25, an increase in market valuation of the business $67m to $106m.
Yet it was the outdoor companies that remained the stars of the investment markets. Ooh Media (OML), listed in late 2014, had the second-largest share price increase increase at 94.5%, from $2.55 to $4.96. Its total market value is now $743m.
APN Outdoor (APO) emerged as the star performer of the year. Smashing the 100% barrier, its share price climbed an astronomical 121.1%, opening the year at $3.12 and closing at $6.90. Its total value also surpassed the billion barrier, currently sitting at $1.14bn.
All data used for Mumbrella’s analysis was sourced from Google Finance. The calculations do not take into account any dividends paid to shareholders during the period, which could have made an investment more worthwhile, independent of the share price.
I’m not surprised.
It’s the one form of advertising you can’t avoid – unlike radio and TV where you can easily flick stations – or on the internet where you can train your eyes to ignore them!
User ID not verified.
It’s oOh! Media not Ooh Media, just like it’s an iPhone not an Iphone. Come on Mumbrella you can get it right.
User ID not verified.
Hey Anon,
It’s not a mistake, it’s house style to simplify names of companies with odd typography like this for readers and make them more easily legible.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
Gee picky. Get a life.
User ID not verified.
I am interested in hearing your thoughts on what has driven these results across the board – obviously most of these results are a factor of ad sales, but what has driven them like this over the past 12 months?
User ID not verified.