Digital growth drives News Corp revenue rise
NEWS Corp has swung back to profit, reporting $US228 million in income compared to a net loss of $US1.44billion a year ago, with digital subscriptions for its newspapers and sport streaming services Kayo the standout performers.
Revenue of $US10.07b for the full financial year was a 12 per cent increase compared to the prior year, with total EBITDA for the year up to $US1.24b.
the fourth quarter of 2019, News Corp (parent company of News Corp Australia, publisher of the Gold Coast Bulletin) total revenue was down $US2.47b.
It was an 8 per cent decline compared to $US2.69b in the prior-year period, primarily due to the $US105m negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations, and lower revenue in the book publishing segment.
Net losses for the quarter were $US42m compared to a net loss of $US355m in the prior year, mainly due to the absence of the write-off of the Fox Sports Australia channel distribution agreement of $US317m in the prior year.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson told investors on a call from New York the consolidation of Foxtel added revenue growth, as did growth in digital subscribers at its newspaper business.
“In fiscal 2019, the News and Information Services segment posted higher profitability which was spurred by the rapid rise of digital paid subrency scribers. The Wall Street Journal, The Times and Sunday Times and The Australian all grew subscriber volumes at a healthy rate with digital now accounting for the majority of their subscribers,” News Corp said yesterday.
In the year overall the News and Information Services unit recorded higher profitability, with revenues for the final quarter of over $US1.2b, but down about 5 per cent on the same time the year before, those results reflected a 3 per cent negative impact from curFor fluctuations Subscriptions to the streaming television services Kayo and Foxtel Now had nearly doubled over the period to 770,000.
From a standing start Kayo has pulled in 331,000 paying customers, the total doubling between the third and fourth quarters of the financial year.
Mr Thomson said the $25 a month streaming service had not come at the expense of settop box subscribers, with the churn rate falling for people on the sports package.