Southern Cross Austereo lifts full-year net profit 91pc
The owner of the Triple M and Hit radio stations says annual results put it in a ‘strong position to invest for the future’.
Southern Cross Austereo, the owner of Triple M and Hit radio stations, has posted an annual net profit of $48.1m – an increase of 91.6 per cent on the previous financial year.
Southern Cross (SCA) reported underlying earnings of $125.9m – up 16.4 per cent - and said net debt had fallen significantly by $53m.
However revenue was slightly down by 2.2 per cent at $529.1m. Audio revenue fell by 3.1 per cent while television revenue was relatively steady at $169m – just 0.3 per cent lower than the previous financial year.
The second half of the 2020/21 financial year saw the company rebound during the pandemic – delivering a 16 per cent improvement in group revenue over the previous financial year as a result of recovering media markets.
Southern Cross CEO Grant Blackley was “pleased” with the results which he said put the company “in a strong position to invest for the future”.
He hailed the launch earlier this year of new streaming app LiSTNR.
“The launch of LiSTNR in February was an exciting moment for SCA and our progress launch has only added to the excitement,” he said.
“LiSTNR is scaling quickly with a growing community of signed-in listeners exploring and enjoying the range of premium live and on-demand audio content.”
Mr Blackley said the company would continue to focus on being a growing source of entertainment and information for Australians.
“Our Australia-wide network of 99 AM, FM, DAB+ radio stations remains the creative core of SCA, but with a new digital-first mindset,” Mr Blackley said.
“With audiences increasingly choosing to listen via digital means, our teams are finding ways to make it easy to enjoy our radio shows, podcasts, music playlists, news and other local updates on LiSTNR and other platforms.”
SCA has the largest regional commercial footprint in Australia and has stations located in every state, reaching more than 7.7 million Australians.
The company’s TV business also performed well with underlying earnings at $38.1m – up 59.7 per cent.
SCA will pay a fully-franked dividend of 5 cents per share on October 1.
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