A drastic drop in advertising and circulation volumes pushed down giant Nation Media Group(NMG)into a loss territory of KSh 375.2 Million in Net earnings at the close of the six months ended 30th June, 2020. This is against a net profit of KSh 403.7 Million over a similar period last year.
The media house blames its financial woes on a difficult period faced by advertisers across the regions where it has a presence, especially in the months of April and June when lockdown measures were most stringent in Kenya.
“Advertisers faced devastating financial challenges with many scaling down their operations, held back marketing activities while others shut down operations,” said NMG in a statement.
Lockdowns and curfews across markets also led to a drop in newspaper copy sales as more readers began working from home. On the upside, however, NMG sees a substantial growth of subscriptions to its digital platforms and the possibility of this segment contributing to its bottom line.
Turnover over the first six months of this year declined to KSh 3.3 Billion from KSh 4.6 Billion over a similar period last year.
The firm posted a pre-tax loss of KSh 328 Million from a profit of KSh 580.8 Million at the end of H1, 2019. It realised a total comprehensive loss of KSh 352.7 Million from a profit of KSh 416.7 Million at the end of the previous period in 2019.
Profitability of the firm, as measured by Earnings Per Share(EPS) declined to KSh 1.90 from KSh 2.20 with directors not declaring an interim dividend to shareholders.
NMG has been undertaking a radical transformation of its business to digital media, a move that has seen a host of senior editors exit its newsrooms.
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