Sabido, the company behind e-tv reported a 12.4% rise in revenue to R2.12 billion, for the 12 months ended March 2013.

Sabido, the company behind free to air channel e-tv, reported a 12.4% rise in revenue to R2.12 billion for the 12 months ended March 2013, from R1.88 billion before.

This is according to listed Investment holding company, Remgro, which has an effective interest of 31.6% in Sabido, which has a range of media interests including news service, eNews Channel Africa (eNCA), Gauteng-based radio station, Yfm, and various studio and facilities businesses.

Sabido’s operating profit climbed 4.7% to R739 million, from R706 million, “while free-to-air service, e-tv reported a significant increase in audience ratings and audience share since second half of 2012,” Remgro said.

All Media Products Survey indicated that e-tv’s audience at June 2012 is at 16.5 million viewers.

eNCA, Sabido’s 24-hour news channel, continued to benefit from subscriber growth in the DStv Compact platform and retained its position as premier news service on DStv, Remgro said.

It pointed out that advertising sales on e-tv, eNCA and Yfm were under pressure; however, programming and operating costs remained stable.

Remgro said that Sabido’s contribution to its headline earnings amounted to R148 million, from R129 million before. Remgro was reporting results of its own for the full year ended June 2013.

Dark Fibre Africa

During the year under review Remgro said it invested a further R157.4 million directly into Dark Fibre Africa, the fibre-optic infrastructure company.

This investment increased Remgro’s total direct and indirect interest in Dark Fibre to 50.8%, from 49.6% in 2012.

“DFA’s main operating challenge is the slower than anticipated site build by customers,” Remgro said, adding that the current value of DFA’s fibre optic network is in excess of R4 billion, from R3 billion in 2012.

“Increased depreciation and finance charges due to the network roll-out had a negative
impact on profitability,” Remgro said.

CIV Group, the parent company of DFA – in which Remgro has a 43.8% effective interest – reported a 24.4% rise in revenue to March 2013, while operating profit increased 8.6% to R222 million.

Seacom

Seacom, the sub-sea cable operating group – in which Remgro has a 25% interest – reported a headline loss of R3 million for the year under review, but from a prior loss of R109 million.

Remgro’s share of this loss amounted to less than R1 million, from a R27 million loss before.

Kagiso

During August 2012, Remgro increased its shareholding in Kagiso Tiso Holdings by acquiring a further 7.2% interest for a total amount of R486.1 million, thereby increasing its interest from 25.1% to 32.3%.

Remgro, which also boasts assets in RMB, FirstRand, Total, Unliver, Distell, and Mediclinic, noted that overall headline earnings per share decreased by 14.1% to 854.3 cents.

It pointed out that headline earnings per share would have increased by 11.6% to 1 109.8 cents (2012: 994.6 cents) for the year ended 30 June 2013, if its share (R1.312 billion) of the material once-off refinancing charges Mediclinic incurred after the rights issue undertaken to refinance its Swiss and South African debt during October 2012, was excluded.

Remgro said its total dividend per share for the year increased by 10.2% to 346 cents.

Shares in the group declined 2.2% to R193.62 rand at the close on the JSE on Wednesday (18 September), giving the company a market cap of R93.15 billion.

Source: Remgro Limited via Business Tech – MyBroadband