Nine Entertainment has released its end of financials for the 12 months to June, unveiling a $234 million profit for the year. That was up 12 per cent year on year.
However, the results were dragged down by Nine’s streaming service STAN that lost $21.3 million for the year despite boasting 1.7 million subscribers.
Its TV business was also down with earnings falling $21.3 million for the year, primarily from a jump in costs over $178 million.
Nine reported Group EBITDA growth of 10 per cent to $424 million, on revenue of $2.3 billion (down one per cent) and net profit after tax and minority interests of $198 million (up 16 per cent).
Commenting on the results, Nine CEO Hugh Marks (main photo) said: “To achieve 10 per cent EBITDA growth in this cyclically challenging FTA and housing market was a very strong result. It’s a validation of our strategy, the success of the investments we have made, and the efforts of our people.
“Nine has real operating momentum in each of our divisions, with an earnings composition increasingly weighted to high growth businesses. In particular, we are well placed to further expand our share of the rapidly growing digital video market. Not only through 9Now and Stan but also more broadly across our digital assets. We will continue to draw on the strength of our traditional media assets to help us successfully build complementary, high growth, digital media businesses of the future. A strategy that has, of course, been greatly enhanced by the merger with Fairfax.
“Growth in Digital & Publishing and the move to profitability through the second half at Stan enabled us to grow Nine’s EBITDA year on year, giving us further confidence that we are investing in the right content and technology for the future of our business.
“We are excited about the future, and the potential we see in the further execution of our strategy. Having all of our businesses working together will maximise the benefits for each of them as well as the collective benefit for Nine as a Group.”
