{"id":569852,"date":"2024-11-13T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T08:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=569852"},"modified":"2024-11-18T08:57:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T06:57:35","slug":"multichoice-upbeat-about-future-prospects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/569852-multichoice-upbeat-about-future-prospects.html","title":{"rendered":"MultiChoice upbeat about future prospects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said they are making good progress to strengthen their balance sheet and make Showmax profitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mawela&#8217;s comments came after MultiChoice released its consolidated interim financial statements for the period ending 30 September 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group experienced a challenging six months, with declining revenue, lower operating profit, and a larger loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Subscribers declined from 16.7 million to 14.9 million over the last year, including a 5% reduction in South Africa and a 15% decline in the Rest of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MultiChoice explained that unprecedented foreign exchange volatility severely impacted its interim financial results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It added that ongoing macroeconomic challenges weighed on customer growth and moderated overall performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite these challenges, MultiChoice remains upbeat about its prospects, saying it maintained strategic momentum despite the macroeconomic challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company said it has created a solid financial foundation, with targeted investments and disciplined cost management to drive future growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MultiChoice said cost-cutting measures delivered R1.3 billion in permanent savings and is on track to reach the full-year target of R2.5 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Showmax&#8217;s customer base, which is seen as the company&#8217;s future, grew 50% year-on-year. This is set to accelerate with a big drive in this segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, Showmax is focused on enhancing its content lineup, bedding down distribution partnerships, expanding payment channel integrations, and refining its go-to-market strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MultiChoice&#8217;s subsidiary Irdeto, the world leader in digital platform cybersecurity, has also performed well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It delivered encouraging revenue growth after securing a major customer in Asia and expanding managed services with a key customer in Australasia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MultiChoice&#8217;s fintech division, Moment, is now live in 40 African countries and has shown rapid growth since its launch last year. Total payment volumes grew to R4.4 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other business units, including DStv Steam, DStv Internet, DStv Insurance, and KingMakers, have also shown strong revenue growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another positive development is that MultiChoice is on track to strengthen its balance sheet and resolve its negative equity position this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MultiChoice CEO&#8217;s comments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/MultiChoice-City-reception.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-569667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/MultiChoice-City-reception.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/MultiChoice-City-reception-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/MultiChoice-City-reception-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said they are making good progress in addressing the technical insolvency that resulted from non-cash accounting entries at the end of the last financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We expect to return to a positive net equity position by the end of November this year, supported by several developments and initiatives,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The group&#8217;s liquidity position remains strong, with over R10 billion in total available funds.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that MultiChoice is adjusting well to global pay-TV challenges as streaming services, social media, and changing consumer preferences impact the traditional broadcast business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Showmax, which reported strong subscriber growth in its paying customer base, strategically positions the business to actively participate in the streaming revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;To create sufficient capacity and drive growth, the group stepped up its investment in this business by an incremental R1.6 billion during the interim period,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that they have successfully implemented their strategy over the past few years, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The investment in sports betting platform KingMakers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Returning the Rest of African business to profitability in the 2023 and 2024 financial years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Concluding the Showmax partnership with Comcast and launching Showmax 2.0.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Investing in the fintech platform Moment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Our focus extends beyond cost efficiency. We are equally committed to grow the business,&#8221; Mawela said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We remain committed to driving new revenue streams and see significant medium to long-term opportunities in video entertainment and in our adjacent new businesses.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said they are making good progress to strengthen their balance sheet and make Showmax profitable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":568316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[24196,85,97730,72522,97729,83067,95457,475,32140],"class_list":["post-569852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-calvo-mawela","tag-dstv","tag-dstv-insurance","tag-dstv-internet","tag-dstv-steam","tag-kingmakers","tag-moment","tag-multichoice","tag-showmax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569852"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":570602,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569852\/revisions\/570602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}