Media companies report mixed results for first quarter
Some listed media companies that diversified into the TV broadcasting industry suffered a loss in the first quarter of this year mainly due to high investments but low returns.
Amarin Printing and Publishing reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Wednesday a first-quarter net loss of Bt117.05 million, increasing by 2,902 per cent from the same time last year, after operating costs of Amarin TV, a digital high-definition TV channel, increased from its start in the second quarter of last year.
Chief executive officer Rarin Utakapan Punjarungroj said that last year there were no operations in the digital-television business of its subsidiaries. However, first-quarter revenue rose 5.4 per cent year on year to Bt402.21 million, mainly driven by the printing business.
Mono Technology, the parent of Mono Broadcast, the operator of the Mono 29 digital TV channel, reported a first-quarter net loss of Bt68.05 million, compared with a net profit of Bt43.19 million in the same quarter of 2014.
The Bt111.24-million decrease was attributed to higher personnel, utility and marketing expenses as well as content-related expenses for investment and expansion of the digital TV business.
However, Sang Do Lee, CEO of Mono Technology, said first-quarter revenue still managed to jump 45.6 per cent to Bt497 million from Bt329 million last year. The key revenue drivers were the mobile value-added and advertising businesses.
Meanwhile, key players like GMM Grammy, RS and Nation Multimedia Group (NMG), which have long experience in the industry, were able to maintain upward momentum in revenue and profit.
GMM Grammy, a music and entertainment giant, recorded extraordinary gains of Bt72 million from sales of its long-term investment in SE-ED and Bt654 million recognised from the strategic arrangement of its shareholding in its subsidiary GMM One TV Trading at 51 per cent.
Given these changes, the company realised a net profit of Bt377 million in the first quarter, increasing from Bt182 million in the same quarter last year.
GMM Grammy’s first-quarter revenue surged 51 per cent to Bt3 billion from Bt1.99 billion.
Its major rival, RS, also reported an increase of 15.7 per cent in first-quarter revenue to Bt805.4 million, thanks to its media business, which included its Channel 8 digital TV station.
Darm Nana, chief financial officer of RS, said the Bt41.5-million net loss of the company was as expected because of expenses for licences, the digital TV transmission system and production of new content.
The company is still confident that income from digital TV will continue to grow, and become greatly profitable in the long run.
NMG turned in a 14-per-cent rise in first-quarter net profit to Bt12.9 million as advertising revenue continued to improve from new TV content and activities through its two new studios.
Duangkamol Chotana, CEO of NMG, said recently that the economy had substantially slowed down in the first three months, but the company managed to bump up its profit, however slightly, thanks to the uptrend in advertising spending by ad agencies and firms.
Sales and service revenue increased by 26 per cent, driven by the rise in overall ad sales, which surged by 43 per cent in the quarter.
Ad revenue for TV and radio advanced by 11 per cent, mainly from digital TV channels Nation 22 and NOW/26, which started broadcasting on April 25 of last year.
