Modern Times Group-backed CTC Media has posted revenues of R4,917.9 million (€83.8 million) for the first quarter, down 25% on the same period last year.
In dollar terms, the fall was an even more substantial 58%. OIDBA was R517 million (-74%) and net income R511.6 million (-54%), with the dollar equivalent reductions being -85% and -73% respectively.
CTC Media also saw falls in the audience shares year-on –year for two of its three main channels (Peretz and the flagship CTC Channel), with the third (Domashny) growing.
Commenting on the results, CEO Yuliana Slashcheva said: “Despite facing headwinds from a dramatically worsening macroeconomic environment, the sharp decline of the Russian advertising market and the loss of Ukrainian sublicensing revenues, CTC Media demonstrated good results in the first quarter of 2015. Thanks to our entrepreneurial management team, we managed to maintain a double-digit OIBDA margin of 10.6% in the first quarter, which we believe is a very positive statistic given market conditions and industry peer results”.
