Media, broadcasting firms report healthy performance in Q3
A CONTINUING economic slowdown and political uncertainty are posing a challenge for sustainable business growth in some sectors amid weak purchasing power, but the media sector still managed to grow during the first three quarters of the year.
Major media and broadcasting companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand continued to reward investors and shareholders with good news of satisfactory profits in the third quarter.
RS, the country’s second-largest music and entertainment company, revealed yesterday that in the third quarter, it generated Bt124 million in profits, up 56 per cent from the same period last year. Quarterly revenue was up 15 per cent to Bt922 million, largely driven by its media business.
“Our media business brought in Bt573 million in revenue, an 80-per-cent increase, thanks largely to the utilisation of advertising space in line with rising ratings in our satellite TV and radio channels,” RS chief financial officer Dam Nana said.
Due to its strong performance and steady growth, MSCI, the US-based provider of investment decision support tools to international investors, has picked RS stocks for inclusion in its MSCI Global Small Cap Index and this would be announced on November 26.
Meanwhile, BEC World, the parent company of Bangkok Entertainment Company, the operator of Channel 3, reported to the SET that its group’s advertising income was at a record high again and its growth rate at 9-10 per cent was also higher than the overall industry’s growth of 1-2 per cent. BEC posed Bt1.39 billion in profits in the third quarter, below its previous projection of Bt1.48 billion because of the loss of Bt51.9 million from the Sonic Bang concert.
Analysts at securities firms such as KGI, KKTrade and Phillip Capital suggested that in the current quarter BEC World’s financial performance would follow the same track. It raised the advertising rates raised for its evening news programme “Rueng Den Yen Nee” from Bt200,000 per minute to Bt220,000 effective early this month. The analysts also believe that Channel 3 will be able to raise ad rates on some of its strong programmes next year.
Matching Maximize Solution, a subsidiary of Bangkok Broadcasting and Television, operator of Channel 7, posted 25-per-cent revenue growth to Bt174.77 million in the third quarter, with Bt17.71 million in profit. The growth was mainly fuelled by show business and equipment-rental service for film production.
Nation Multimedia Group also saw its nine-month net profit surge 89 per cent to Bt227.30 million, even though revenue only increased to Bt2.32 billion from Bt2.29 billion in the same period last year.
Advertising revenues from NMG’s print media dropped by 0.75 per cent in the first three quarters of the year, but the group’s overall revenues are in surplus, and it still has good capability for making profits, according to president Duangkamol Chotana.
The group ran into some turbulence from a weakening in purchasing power, with third-quarter revenue slipping 4 per cent to Bt756.50 million.
Analysts have suggested that the coming era of digital terrestrial TV broadcasting will be supportive of growth in this sector over the next couple of years.
Apart from printing and broadcasting, cinema business also saw growth despite facing consumers’ weaker purchasing power and political conflicts. Major Cineplex Group revealed that in the third quarter, it witnessed 2-per-cent growth in revenue to Bt1.75 billion with Bt201 million profit.
