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Cape Town – Media24’s revenue grew marginally to R8.25bn in the year ended March 31 2015 from R8.17bn in the previous year, it reported on Tuesday.
Trading profit ended the year 52% lower than the previous year on R247m compared to R519m the year before.
In its summarised annual results, Media24 said print media operations continued to face industry headwinds amid the accelerated transition from offline to online, as well as sluggish economic conditions.
“Declines in our traditional sources of revenue, combined with higher investments in digital media, e-commerce and online job classifieds hampered this year’s trading performance,” Media24 said.
“We continue to unlock efficiencies and save costs in our print media operations, and achieved excellent growth in audiences across our digital and mobile platforms.”
Paarl Media Group listed on the JSE Limited’s stock exchange as Novus Holdings Limited [JSE:NVS] on March 31 2015 to “unlock growth and drive its diversification strategy”, Media24 explained.
Naspers [JSE:NPN] said in its results summary on Monday that it received proceeds of R1.1bn from the listing.
While Media24 said it continued to improve productivity and efficiencies in its core business, it also diversified into new market segments “including specialised label printing for the fast-moving consumer goods market, and tissue manufacturing”.
The group also grew its footprint on the rest of Africa.
The group’s focus on diversifying its revenue base gained further impetus, including e-commerce activities (+219%), financial data subscriptions (+154%) and gains from Novus Holdings’ investments in tissue plants were the main contributors to the year-on-year growth in non-print revenues.
