MTG Q2 boosted by Viaplay
July 21, 2015
MTG, the Nordic pay-TV broadcaster, saw sales of SEK1.49 billion (€159m) in the second quarter, up 3 per cent year-on-year. EBIT was flat at SEK185 million.
Pay-TV in the emerging markets saw revenue growth of 12 per cent to SEK303 due in part to the consolidation of Trace, which helped lift wholesale mini-pay channel sales by 43 million subscriptions year-on-year, offsetting a decline in satellite pay-TV, affected by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, President & CEO, commented: “Sales and profits were up for our broadcasting businesses despite the ongoing adverse currency effects on our content costs. We increased our advertising market shares in almost all markets and grew our subscriber bases through Viaplay across the Nordic region and Trace in the international markets. Our operating profit before non-recurring items was stable when excluding M&A transaction costs of SEK 20 million, and would have been up when excluding the negative currency effects.”
He continued: “We have taken a number of important steps during the quarter along our path of strategic transformation. Firstly, we are moving from a product to a country based organisation, in order to accelerate decision making and bring us even closer to our customers. Secondly, we are working to optimise our structure, in order to capitalise on the fast moving changes in consumer behaviour and offset the ongoing adverse currency effects. And, thirdly, we have announced that we have invested in three complementary digital businesses that give us global scale and confirm our position as a leading player in two very exciting verticals.”