Nation Media Group (NMG) has announced a tenfold increase in its net profits which hit Ksh493.1 million for the year ended December 2021, up from Ksh47.9 million in 2020.
The rise was attributed to a surge in sales and advertising revenue on the back of economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Total revenues rose 12 percent to hit Ksh7.6 billion.
The Group has resumed dividend payments with a proposal to pay Ksh1.50 per share. It controls brands including Daily Nation and NTV.
The company continues to bank on its revamped digital plan to drive growth. Growing online reader revenue, in particular, is seen as key to stem reliance on print.
Digital grew to account for 6 percent of NMG’s turnover for the year ended December 2021. Broadcast’s contribution to total revenues grew by 2% to represent 22 percent of total revenues.
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Print, however, remains king at NMG and contributed 72% of total revenues. It was a decline from 75% of revenues print contributed in 2020.
Newspaper circulation had fallen significantly along with ad revenue at the height of the pandemic.
“Going forward bulk of the revenues will come through going digital. The legacy media like print will still remain for a few years but distribution will be mainly digital. We hope to reduce reliance on print gradually to not more than 25 percent,” NMG Chairman Wilfred Kiboro disclosed.
Nation Courier reported a 13 percent growth in revenue.
In addition to accelerating digital growth, NMG us also exploring new revenue streams in the events and technology space.
