Vision Group losses double to shs11billion as revenues fall

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The New Vision Group has finally released its financial performance reports, showing a further plunge into losses for the year ended June 2024.

The results were due to be released two weeks ago, but Company Secretary Gervase Ndyanabo told shareholders and the general public that this would be delayed for reasons not indicated, but not later than November 30.

The New Vision Printing and Publishing Corporation, owned 52 percent by the government, and Uganda’s largest media house, saw the loss for the year more than double from 5.46 billion at the end of June 2023 to 11.196 Billion Shillings.

The company has now made losses for three years out of the last four. It started with a decline in total turnover from 87.6 to 80.3 billion Shillings.

This 8.3 percent decline in revenues has been attributed to declines in revenues across all business segments, save for commercial printing which performed better from 16.2 to 19.8 billion.

The newly created outdoor advertising also brought in 811 million.

Print media, which accounts for 39 percent of the revenues declined by about 3 Billion to 31.657 Billion Shillings and it was closely followed by the electronic media, the second largest revenue stream, whose revenues dropped by 2.6 billion to 24.2 billion.

The decline in performance stretches back to the Covid-19 period where not only sales were affected due to curtailed movement which made access to newspapers hard.

It also led to a decline in advertising spending by companies as they cut down on expenditure.

However, there is also an increasing restructuring of the advertising expenditures as the media industry evolves, with the digital media taking a piece of the otherwise potential revenues for the traditional media.

The publishing section suffered the biggest decline, bringing in 1.59 Billion Shillings compared to the 7.37 billion it contributed the previous year.

According to the company’s management, publishing has encountered mixed reactions, with the government giving good business through the Ministry of Education and Sport to print study materials.

However, payment for the work done has not been realised as and when it was expected, with less than half of the due payment received by December 2023.

“The Company recognised revenue of 633 Million Shillings for Ministry of Education and Sports Senior Four instruction materials during the period and payments of 1.1 Billion were made leaving the ministry with a total outstanding debt of 2.55 Billion reflected under receivables for the period ended 31 December 2023,” the company said in the financials for the period ended December 2023.

Publishing contributes an average 3 percent to total revenue, and for accounted for 10 of the total costs and 35 percent of the loss for the period ended 31 December 2023.

The while year, ended June 2024 also saw a rise in the cost of sales by 2.8 percent in the cost of raw materials like newsprint and commercial paper, all contributing to the overall loss for the company.

Commenting on their performance, and prospects for the future, the Board Chairman, Patrick Ayota, Managing Director, Don Wanyama, and Chief Finance Officer, Augustine Tamale say the company performance has improved with the new investments in outdoor advertising and commodities trading.

The Board and management also say they have undertaken a number of cost optimization measures that have increased efficiency and turned around the business performance.

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