The Nation Media Group grew its revenues to Ksh3.8 billion ($50 million) in the first half of this year, up from Ksh3.7 billion ($48.7 million) in the same period last year.
The growth in revenues, Group chief executive officer Linus Gitahi said last Wednesday, had come despite a challenging operating environment.
The cost of newsprint had risen by 35 per cent in a year and the Kenyan shilling had fallen in value to settle at Ksh77 to the dollar compared to Ksh64 to the dollar a year earlier, he said.
“It was a challenging first year but the second half looks brighter,” Mr Gitahi told an investors’ briefing in Nairobi. “We expect to post improved results to the end of the year.”
Despite the challenging operating environment, Mr Gitahi said, NMG still posted a pretax profit of Ksh588.2 million ($7.7 million) for the first six months of the year.
According to Mr Gitahi, NMG electronic outlets were increasingly becoming important for the Group’s revenues, with radio recording a 13 per cent rise in income.
In Kenya, the re-launch of NTV with more local programming had seen the station capture a greater proportion of the market, Mr Gitahi said.
For the Kenyan market, NMG also runs the Kiswahili radio station QFM as well as Easy FM.
In Uganda, the nationwide roll-out of NTV Uganda is expected to substantially raise the station’s profile. Since its launch three years ago, the station had a Kampala-only reach but its signal is now being received in most major urban centres in the country.
During the period under review, NTV Uganda grew its revenues by 73 per cent and posted an operating profit growth of 42 per cent.
In the print media, NMG is the majority shareholder in Uganda’s Monitor Publications that publishes the Daily Monitor and the Sunday Monitor. NMG also owns KFM radio, one of the leading stations in the country.
In Tanzania, NMG’s investment in a new modern printing press, which will be commissioned on schedule in November, is expected to improve the print quality of the country’s leading Kiswahili newspaper, Mwananchi, as well as the sister publications Mwanaspoti and the English daily, The Citizen. NMG publishes the titles through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Mwananchi Communications.
NMG is the largest and most influential media house in the EAC, with interests in print, electronic and digital platforms.
In Kenya, the Group’s flagship, the Daily Nation, is the market leader while its other niche publications — The EastAfrican, the Business Daily and Taifa Leo — are the most read in their classes.
