Naspers profits from pay-TV
1 July 2009
South African media giant Naspers reported a profit for the year ended 31 March 2009, boosted by growth in its pay-TV subscribers.
"Our pay-TV businesses proved resilient," the company said in a statement on Tuesday. "When people experience economic pressure, they spend more time at home, and pay-TV is an affordable form of entertainment."
The company said it had invested substantially to grow, and that its gross subscriber base had improved.
Naspers reported that revenues were up by 30 percent to R26.7-billion for the past financial year, while core headline earnings grew nine percent to R4.4-billion.
In the face of the global economic downturn, "each business in the group played the field as it found it, and each adapted as fast as possible to these new conditions ... Overall, the group's growth was satisfactory."
Naspers added that emerging markets, which had come under pressure but had generally fared better than developed economies during the crisis, were at the centre of its strategy.
The company said its recent internet acquisitions, of Allegro, Ricardo and Gadu-Gadu, had performed steadily, while its associates, Tencent in China and mail.ru in Russia, had expanded.
Naspers' technology business, Irdeto, was more affected by the economic crisis than its consumer-facing units, it said.
Print circulations in South Africa and China held up, but advertising revenues were stagnant, Naspers noted. In Brazil, however, media company Abril had a good year, it said.
"Looking ahead, we mostly have resilient businesses in economies that are on average doing better than the developed world."
However, "competition in pay-TV, regulation and consumer spending levels remain concerns."
The company said it would continue its growth strategy, adding that its balance sheet was "strong", and that "rigorous evaluation processes" would continue to be applied when new investments were considered.
Sapa
