Active Showmax subscribers surged to 68% year-on-year, while overall monthly online users increased a pleasing 28% and this was all thanks to local productions such as DevilsDorp, the Real Housewives franchise and The Wife which drew numbers.
Core headline earnings, a measure of sustainable business performance, rose 6% year-on-year to R3.5 billion.
According to Multichoice group financial statement released on Thursday, there was a slight decline in trading profit to R11 billion in South Africa down by 1% as consumers faced pressure from tougher economic conditions.
DStv subscribers in South Africa reached 9 million and “growth rates were subdued” during the financial period up to the end of March and this was attributed to the tough ongoing economic environment and elevated prior year numbers as consumers prioritized video entertainment during the Covid-19-related lockdown
But advertising revenue saw a recovery, alongside a 1% advertising revenue and a 1% increase in subscription revenues, driven by subscriber growth in the mass market and annual price increases as revenue for the SA operations ticked up 4% to R35.6 billion.
The company said “This represents a strong recovery from the 26% decrease reported at the half-year as activities normalized in the second half relative to the prior year and a weaker rand reduced realized losses on foreign exchange contracts”.
As a result of several once-off payments including the payment of the tax security deposits to Nigerian tax authorities in relation to the company’s ongoing tax audit, Group revenue rose 3% to R55.1 billion, while consolidated free cash flow slipped by 3% to R5.5 billion.
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In 2021, MultiChoice received a 1.8 trillion naira (~R65 billion) tax bill over unpaid taxes from the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service
In March, The company managed the situation by announcing that it was appealing the matter and also made a payment of $19.4 million deposit towards the claim and insisted is was not an admission of guilt.
Group subscription revenues increased to R45.3 billion, but a stronger rand resulted in a dip in revenue contribution from the Rest of Africa. A gross dividend of R2.5 billion or R5.65 per share was declared.
CEO Calvo Mawela, said “Reduced losses in the Rest of Africa, a rebound in advertising revenues and a continued focus on cost containment enabled us to absorb the R1.1 billion impact of a normalization in content costs as live sport returned and we resumed our local content production post the Covid-19 lockdowns”.
