Central European Media Enterprises (CME) saw its net income increase in both the second quarter and first half of this year compared to 2018.
In Q2 it amounted to $43,959,000 ($26,041,000), while in H1 it reached $55,717,000 ($33.291,000). However, while its net revenues in Q2 were slightly up on a year earlier ($183,599,000 v $181,908,000), they were down in H1 ($330,158,000 v $338,617,000).
In its latest set of results, CME notes that TV ad revenues in Q2 were broadly flat at actual rates but increased 7% at constant rates.
It also says that it repaid a total of €100 million in debt in H1 using cash generated from its business.
Commenting on the results, Michael Del Nin, co-CEO, said: “We could not have hoped for a stronger set of results this quarter. This unique portfolio of assets has delivered another impressive performance, once again exceeding our expectations and demonstrating the extraordinary growth potential of our businesses. In fact, in terms of constant currency revenue and OIBDA growth, this was the company’s strongest Q2 in four years. OIBDA margins expanded in every one of our country operations and reached a remarkable 40% across the group. But even more impressive was the greater than 50% surge in cash generation so far this year, which allowed us to further reduce our debt, bringing total repayments in 2019 to €100 million and pushing our borrowing cost to its lowest level ever.”
Christoph Mainusch, co-CEO, added: “We were selective and strategic when designing our programme grids so costs were lower overall while the main channel in each territory increased its audience share in prime time this year, and we increased the gap between us and our closest commercial competitor in prime time audience share in four markets. The TV ad market in the Czech Republic saw its strongest first half of the year since 2015 and spending on advertising rebounded in Romania during the second quarter. Year-to-date, we have seen double digit growth in carriage fees and subscription revenues in three of our segments.”
