Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed media house Standard Group has issued a profit warning citing adverse market conditions.
It is Directors say the media houses’ financials for the year ended 31st December 2019 will be at least 25% lower than the performance of the year ended 31st December 2018.
“Newsprint was a major contributor to increased in the year. Key existing clients spent less in this period including SMEs due to slow economic activities, and lack of access to credit from the financial sector. The Group invested in several new products which in the immediate period has affected our costs, ut we expect revenues to be realized in subsequent years, said” Orlando Lyomu, chief executive of the Group.
The Group runs The Standard newspaper, KTN TV stations, Radio Maisha, Digger Classifieds, E-paper, Burundani Radio, Eve Woman, Farm Kenya, Kenya Corporate,The Nairobian, Pulser and Travelog recorded a decline of 85% in half-year net profit to KSh19.39 million from KSh126.04 million. In the period, the Standard reported a marginal rise of 0.18% in revenue to Ksh2.4 billion from Ksh2.39 billion in the first half-year of 2018.
In August 2019, it launched two radio stations Vybez Radio and Spice FM.
He added that several regulatory changes in the environment also affected their bottom lines. “Key among them is the gaming and betting sector. Also affected by regulatory changes were the alcoholic and beverage companies, the tobacco industry and the education sector who have equally slowed down on their spending.”
“The Board is cautiously optimist that the Group is able to withstand the changes in the operating environment and is focusing on growing the newly launched media products, which should enable the Group to post a better return next year,” he said.