Nine Entertainment grew earnings by 6 per cent in the December half, its second period of rising profits in a row despite a drop in revenue in its first results since the sale of Domain Group.
Nine grew earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to $192.2 million for its continuing businesses in the six months to December 31, while its reported net profit including the sale of digital real estate listings firm Domain totalled $896.6 million. Sales from continuing operations dropped 5 per cent to $1.05 billion during that time.
The publishing division was aided by a one-off payment of $7.3 million following the outcome of its defamation proceedings brought against The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age by disgraced SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith. But the division’s overall revenues fell by 2 per cent to $262.2 million. EBITDA also fell by 1 per cent to $73.7 million. The division also includes The Australian Financial Review.
The company said the results were impacted by both weak print and digital advertising conditions.
The streaming and broadcast division continued to be hit by poor advertising conditions, with revenue down 6 per cent to $790.9 million. This included a decline of 14 per cent for the Nine Network and its broadcast operations, with revenues for broadcast streaming platform 9Now also down 16 per cent to $100.7 million.
The division was buoyed by the performance of subscription streaming platform Stan, which grew revenue by 15 per cent to $282.7 million, aided by the new addition of the English Premier League broadcasting rights. It allowed the platform to raise the price of its Sport tier by $5. Stan now has 2.4 million paying subscribers.
CEO Matt Stanton said the results were aided by growth from Stan, the newspapers and a “resilient result” from the total TV assets.
“Our business continues to be defined by strong audience reach and engagement, coupled with disciplined cost management,” Stanton said.
“Over the past six months, there have been material strategic and operational achievements that will cement Nine’s path for the future,” he added.
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.
