Nation Media Group financial performance continues to nosedive, with the net loss for the financial year ending December 2024 growing to Ksh254 million, up from Ksh205 million recorded in 2023. It’s a further deterioration of fortunes at Nation Centre as Kenya’s leading media company feels the impact of changing media consumption trends that have roiled the advertisement industry.
Interestingly, announcing the increased loss will the first major assignment for the new CEO at NMG, Geoffrey Odundo, who took over the helm in March. For investors, it will be another dividend dry spell as the company has not recommended any payout.
Nation Media Group has also been spending big on offloading employees as it seeks to cut its payroll, hoping to find a leaner staff to work in an increasingly digital media environment. This process alone took up Ksh157.8 million in 2024, contributing a huge chunk of the loss.
Group turnover for 2024 at Ksh6.229 billion was 12.5% below the previous year. The management said the decline was occasioned by a challenging macroeconomic environment marked by weakened consumer spending and rising prices of basic commodities. It also indicates its digital-first strategy is not delivering the expected results.
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Despite the decline in total revenue, the NMG Group recorded a growth of 11% in its digital business attributable to improved monetisation of our digital assets which gained from an increase in users to 62.4 million users, up from 60.2 million in the same period last year.
Cost of sales in the year reduced by 18.9% partly due to the decline in turnover, while continued focus on cost containment and increased digitisation of business processes led to a reduction of 17.2% in operating costs.
The operating costs for the year include a one-off expense of Ksh157.8 million related to staff restructuring undertaken in June 2024. “The Group’s product innovation and ongoing organizational transformation initiatives continued to drive improvement in operating performance,” the company says.
Considering the prevailing economic environment and the Group’s investment plans, the Board of Directors does not recommend payment of a dividend for the year 2024.
“The rebuild of our broadcasting business is gaining traction driven by deliberate investment in talent, content, and technology,” NMG says in its outlook, published by Ms Angela Namwakira, the Company Secretary. “We continue to focus on creating compelling content to enhance brand trust, drive audience engagement and optimize monetisation of our expansive digital reach.”
NMG says it is repositioning technology as an enabler to accelerate the transformation of the business into a digital-first media house, serving relevant and impactful content to audiences. The Group says it will continue to invest in the delivery of its content through increased customer touch points to increase audience reach, while maintaining a strong presence in commercially viable print media.
“Through our digital-first approach, we aim to expand our demographic of customers especially the youth,” Ms Namwakira says.
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