GMA H1 income down 21% to P1.22B

Media giant GMA Network Inc. saw its profit decline in the first semester of 2018 as its main television and radio advertising revenues dropped.

GMA said in a stock exchange filing that net income from January to June this year hit P1.22 billion, down 21 percent versus the same period in 2017.

This came amid a 6-percent decline in revenue to P7.25 billion.

Television and radio airtime sales accounted for 88 percent of total revenues in the first half of the year. The segment dropped 7 percent to P6.4 billion during the period.

“This year saw a notable contraction in television placements from advertisers, which was felt across the broadcasting industry,” GMA said in its filing.

GMA noted that other revenues, including its international operations, rose 3 percent to P856 million. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ended the firs half at P2.46 billion, down 17 percent.

“In spite of challenging market conditions, GMA Network was still able to breach the one billion-peso mark in terms of net income for the first half of 2018. We look forward to seeing the rest of the year with better results for our company,” GMA Network chair and CEO Felipe Gozon said in a separate statement.

For the second quarter alone, GMA saw profit grow 13 percent to P805.7 million. Total revenues during this period were up 1 percent to P3.98 billion.

GMA noted that expenses were stable as operating costs rose 0.5 percent to P5.57 billion.

It said general and administrative expenses rose 6 percent to P2.64 billion. This included personnel costs, which increased 8 percent as the company implemented annual salary adjustments and provisioning for retirement.

The increase was offset by the 4-percent drop in production costs to P2.93 billion.

During the company’s annual meeting in May, Gozon said GMA still expected to post a growth in profit for the whole of 2018.

Its net income in 2017 dropped 30 percent to P2.54 billion, mainly on the absence of political ad spending that propped up earnings the previous year. Gozon said the company was also focused on the rollout of its digital television platform across the Philippines within the year.