MultiChoice Group, has announced that it repatriated $184million (approximately N192.09 billion) from Nigeria in the financial year ending March 2024.
This figure was disclosed in the company’s consolidated financial statements released on Wednesday.
This amount marks a substantial increase from the previous year’s $132 million, facilitated at an average exchange rate of N1044:USD, compared to N684:USD in FY23. Despite the successful remittance, MultiChoice incurred losses of $59 million, a decrease from $132 million in the prior year. By the end of FY24, the group held $39 million in cash in Nigeria, down from $104 million at the end of FY23, largely due to continuous efforts to remit cash and the effects of translating the balance at the weaker naira rate.
The company is the subject of a takeover bid by France’s Canal+, which already holds more than 35 percent of MultiChoice’s shares.
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It was compounded by a nine percent decline in subscriptions.
MultiChoice attributed the decline in its Nigerian subscriber base, one of its largest markets, to challenging economic conditions. “The group’s nine percent decline in active subscribers was mainly due to a 13 percent decline in the Rest of Africa business as mass-market customers in countries like Nigeria had to prioritize basic necessities over entertainment,” the company stated. FY24 posed the toughest macro-economic conditions for the Rest of Africa business since 2016, with extreme foreign exchange depreciation and high inflation significantly reducing customer spending power.
The subscriber base decreased by 1.2 million to 8.1 million by the end of FY24. “Subscriber growth is typically more muted in a year that follows the FIFA World Cup, but FY24 came in below trend as the subscriber base declined year on year in the face of a deteriorating macro and consumer environment,” MultiChoice explained.
Group revenue was also down five percent to 56 billion rand, but the firm said that were it not for currency swings, it would have been up three percent.
MultiChoice repartriates profit from Nigeria
Pay-TV operator, MultiChoice Group, has announced that it repatriated $184million (approximately N192.09 billion) from Nigeria in the financial year ending March 2024.
The fiscal year saw a 13 percent decline in subscribers across Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, and Zambia. The depreciation of local currencies, including Kenya’s, had a 32 percent impact on the Group’s USD revenues. Conversely, South Africa experienced only a five percent decline in subscribers, attributed to a “strong focus on retention initiatives.”
Africa’s largest pay TV enterprise, said it would accelerate a cost saving programme, prioritise customer retention, leverage sports renewals and further develop local content.
Its Showmax video streaming business, which re-launched in February, was showing “encouraging early traction” with the paying subscriber base growing by 16 percent, the company said.
In April, Canal+, a subsidiary of the Vivendi group led by billionaire Vincent Bollore, made a firm offer to acquire all MultiChoice shares it does not currently own.
Upping an earlier rejected bid, it offered 125 rand per share, an amount deemed “fair and reasonable” by an independent board appointed by the South African firm.
Canal+ is present in 25 African countries through 16 subsidiaries, and has eight million subscribers, according to the French group.
Its stake in MultiChoice, Africa’s largest pay TV enterprise, has allowed it to gain a foothold in English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking nations across the continent.
AFP
