Reason for this major decline attributed to a number of one-off expenses. Shareholders, however, are disappointed.
RACHNA LAL
SUVA
Fiji Television Limited Group has posted a net loss after income tax of $1.5 million for the year ended June 30, 2014 against a $3.6 million profit for the previous financial year.
Meanwhile, the holding company reported a profit after tax of $1.3 million compared to $2.2 million the previous year.
Whilst the profits had dropped, the revenue for the holding company increased by 14 per cent to $25.7 million compared to $22.5 the previous year.
But the revenue for the group dropped by six per cent to $37.2 million compared to $39.5 million the previous year.
These audited financial figures were released yesterday by the South Pacific Stock Exchange.
Fiji TV chairman, Padam Lala, said the operating results for the Group are adequate given the challenges and economic conditions faced in its different areas of operations in the Pacific during the year.
In additional, he said the depreciation of the Kina during the year ahead had a significant impact on the Group results.
“The economic environment and the stringent regulatory requirements continue to provide operating challenges for our business in the Pacific,” he said.
“However, moving forward, the board is undertaking more aggressive actions to ensure that Fiji TV Group delivers the financial result that is more equitable to its shareholders.”
Reason for decline
Fijian Holdings Limited Group, which is the major shareholder of Fiji TV, has indicated it is not happy with the financial performance.
Fijian Holdings Group chief executive, Nouzab Fareed, said one of the reasons for this decline was there is a lot of one-off expenses.
This, he said was from writing off of some of the old equipment as well as some termination of contracts with previous companies.
“There were other one-off expenses. If you remove that, there is obviously break-even situation but we decided to go off and clear all these things,” he said.
When asked about $2.75 million being paid as tax, Mr Fareed agreed this was a big amount.
He explained the amount was high mainly because of dividends paid by its PNG subsidiary, Media Niugini Limited, to Fiji.
This was rather a result of the withholding tax related to dividends paid by Media Niugini.
Feedback: rachnal@fijisun.com.fj