We knew the local broadcaster was expecting better-than-expected earnings this year following an interim report recently published. Now, Multichoice’s financial earnings have been revealed, and it’s clear Africans haven’t quite given up on channel-flipping and reruns yet.
According to the earnings report ended March 2021, Multichoice reports record-high profits of over R10 billion. In addition to that, it gained over 1,3 million new subscribers in the 2021 financial year. Of those, just over 500,000 were South African. Total revenue for the period stands at R53.338 billion.
This totals a 4% increase in revenue from R51.4 billion, and an increase of 27% in operating profits to R10.46 billion. “Headline earnings per share climbed from 128 cents to 496 cents for the year. A dividend of 565 cents per share was declared,” BusinessTech reports.
Why’s that, Multichoice?
“The improved financial performance for the 2021 financial year was achieved despite continued macroeconomic and Covid-19 challenges across the African continent,” the group said in a statement to investors, according to TechCentral. “Resilient revenue growth, strong cost control, shifts in content costs and the impact of embracing new ways of working as a consequence of Covid-19 allowed the business to offset these challenges.”
It’s interesting seeing an increase in subscriber numbers for DStv, considering more entrants into the TV and streaming marketing respectively. Even more interesting, DStv lost about 8% of its Premium subscriber base, while its cheaper packages were favoured. This was likely influenced by the global pandemic everyone was (and still is) facing.