SINGAPORE, Aug. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Within six
months of its repositioning, MNC Media Investment Ltd (ASX: MIH)
("MNCMI" or "the Group"), a provider of media and entertainment
content and services in key strategic markets in Asia, has seen its sales soar to US$27.0 million in 1H2014.
Hary Tanosoedibjo, Chairman and CEO of the Group said: "The
Group's repositioning and transformation have borne fruit. Our
strategic focus on digital games – particularly mobile games in
China – has given us a shot in the
arm – driving our performance up significantly in the first six
months of this year. Compared to same period last year, we reduced
our losses by 63% to US$1.9
million.
"With the positive results garnered from our vigorous efforts in
the digital games/mobile games industry, we believe that our games
will continue to build greater traction in our key market,
China - in the coming months.
"We will focus on building a rich portfolio of media assets
focusing on mobile games, social commerce and leisuretainment
industries, in populous markets such as China and South East
Asia. With a population
of more than 200 million in Indonesia, the world's fourth populous
country, and 1.3 billion in China,
the world's most populous country, the opportunities for growth are
extensive. We are confident that our prospects for the full year
will be positive."
Financial Performance
Revenue surged 48% to US$27
million for the first six months ended June 30, 2014 ("1H2014") compared to the
six-month period ended December 31,
2013 ("2H2013").
This was up 11% or US$2.6 million
compared to the corresponding period last year ("1H2013").
The leap in sales was mainly due to the Group's new strategic
emphasis on its mobile gaming business - which saw more than
four-fold surge in mobile games sales in China.
Gross profit eased 8% to US$7.2
million from US$7.8 million in
1H2013. This was due to the distribution costs of mobile games and
licensing fees for popular intellectual properties and animation
characters such as Boonie Bears for the development and
distribution of mobile games.
With the surge in sales, the Group trimmed its net loss from
US$5.2 million in 1H2013 to
US$1.9 million in 1H2014.
The net loss in 1H2014 was also cushioned by a net foreign
exchange gain of US$1.9 million,
compared to US$2.0 million of net
foreign exchange loss in 1H2013. This foreign exchange gain was due
to the appreciation of the Indonesia Rupiah against the US Dollar,
which resulted in a significant foreign exchange gain for the
Group's quoted investments that are denominated in Indonesia Rupiah.
Working Capital Position
The Group's financial position remains healthy. Cash and cash
equivalents remained relatively stable – easing marginally to
US$27.5 million as at June 30, 2014 from US$28.3
million as at December 31,
2013.
Cash per Chess Depositary Interests ("CDIs") as at 30 Jun 2014 was US$2.90, which is close to two times of the CDIs
current valuation.
Group operational cash outflow improved from US$3.8 million in 1H2013 to US$0.9 million in 1H2014.
Earnings Per Ordinary Share and Net Tangible Assets Per
Share
The Group's Loss Per Ordinary Share was reduced to US
0.5 cent in 1H2014, compared to Loss
Per Share of US 1.3 cents in 1H2013
while its Net Tangible Assets per share increased to US
39 cents as at June 30, 2014 from US 36
cents as at December 31,
2013.
Segmental Performance
Mobile and PC Games
Revenue from the Group's mobile games business in China, which is operated by the Group's
subsidiary, Letang, was US$18.3million in 1HFY2014 soaring more than
four-fold from US$4.0 million in
1H2013. Contributions from mobile games now represent 68% of the
Group's total revenue, up from 16% in 1H2013. Letang, a
fast-growing mobile games company in Hefei, China, has achieved over 100 million
downloads for its latest casual game Boonie Bear.
This six-month old game has garnered revenue of close to
US$14 million from China gamers alone. Letang will continue to
focus on acquiring popular IPs for developing new games for
China and International markets,
including Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and Southeast Asia.
Revenue from its PC games business also climbed 25% from
US$0.4 million to US$0.5 million in
1H2014.
Social Commerce
The Social Commerce segment contributed 7% to the Group's total
revenue. It achieved sales of US$1.8
million in 1H2014, 63.6% higher than the sales of
US$1.1 million recorded in
1H2013.
Under this segment, the Group owns a parenting and
family-oriented entertainment portal, fumubang.com ("Fumubang"), which was developed and
launched in Shanghai and
Beijing in the second half of
2013. Adopting offline and online marketing strategies, Fumubang
now has more than 400,000 highly targeted users (parents). While
sales of US$1 million for the first
half of 2014 in Shanghai and
Beijing were highly encouraging,
the Group will also seek to expand into other populous cities in
China.
Outside of China, the Group
also owns some online news and entertainment portals, including
Okezone.com in Indonesia, which
currently has over two million daily users, and a nascent e-retail
business portal, Happybuys.com, which focuses on bringing popular
entertainment related products to families worldwide at local
prices.
Media Content
The Media Content business represents 16% of the Group's total
revenue. It recorded US$4.4 million
in sales in 1H2014, against sales of US$5.4
million in 1H2013. The decline is due to the weak demand for
DVDs in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong
Kong.
The Media Content business is operated by the Group's
subsidiary, Innoform, which generates revenue from three categories
namely, video (which includes the acquisition, licensing, and
distribution of Asian and non Asian movies, and kids content across
multiple platforms such as theatres television, video discs, and
online and mobile devices in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong
Kong and Indonesia), music
(which includes licensing of karaoke music videos), as well as
staging of concerts and events.
Telecommunication Value Added services (VAS)
Since its strategic transformation in the first six months of
this year, the Group has trimmed its telecommunication value-added
services (VAS) business significantly, while boosting its focus on
mobile games.
The VAS business achieved sales of US$2
million in 1H2014 – down from US$13.5
million in the corresponding period last year. The decline
is in line with the Group's strategy to transition away from the
VAS business, and this revenue is from the licensing of the VAS
short codes to third parties operators.
Going Forward
According to market research company EEDAR's research in 2014,
the number of gamers in China is
517 million, surpassing the total number of citizens in
the United States. China Game
Publishers Association Publications Committee ("GPC") has also
forecast that the games market in China will have an average annual growth rate
of 15% from 2014 to 2017.
Southeast Asian markets are also experiencing rapid growth in
online/mobile games. According to the report from Niko Partners,
the Southeast Asian games market, (which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, and Vietnam) will reach US$1.2 billion by 2017, double the figure in
2013.
With the recent change in China's one-child policy to allow parents (who
are themselves single children) – to have two children, the number
of babies is expected to grow substantially. With grandparents and
parents doting on only two children, there is tremendous growth
potential for our parenting portal Fumubang.com.
Going forward, in view of these favourable trends, the Group
maintains an optimistic outlook for FY2014. For the second half
ending 31 December 2014, the Group
anticipates gross revenues to be in the range of US$23 million to US$27 million. These forecasts
reflect the Company's current and preliminary view, which is
subject to change.
About MNC Media Investment Ltd
MNC Media Investment Ltd is a provider of rich and engaging
services and content to a wide range of traditional and new media
consumers and enterprises in Mainland China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong
Kong and Singapore. It
focuses on media, entertainment, communication and edutainment
products, which are promoted through the Group's strong nationwide
distribution networks, integrated service platforms and multiple
marketing sales channels, as well as through the networks of
leading mobile operators in Mainland China and Indonesia.
Release issued on behalf of MNC Media Investment Ltd by
Stratagem Consultants Pte Ltd
For more information, please contact:
Tham Moon Yee, Lee Yew Meng and
Lucas Yang Xiaoguang
Tel: (65) 6227 0502
Emails:
tmy@stratagemconsultants.com
yewmeng@stratagemconsultants.com
lucasy@stratagemconsultants.com
SOURCE MNC Media Investment Ltd
