DASHBOARD: Media valuation comps for March 2023

Dashboard containing:

• Monthly and annual share price movements for main listed stocks
• Key earnings multiples
• Forward earnings multiples vs forward growth estimates
• Share price movements tracked over last twelve months

Commentary

Key developments

Overall, media stocks in Australia and New Zealand are down over the last year, owing to the deterioration of economic conditions, with sticky inflation and rate rises to follow. This is all about the future, not the past, as many media companies posted improved results in CY22. Overall, economic growth is expected to be sluggish in CY23 and CY24 relative to CY22, but the impact on advertising may be muted if unemployment stays low.

Southern Cross Media

Southern Cross lost over 14% of its value in March, a continuation of the sell off experienced in February. Radio industry revenues were also down in February year-on-year, making investors skittish. The company was removed from the ASX300 because of this performance.

Nine

Economic slowdown fears have weighed on the media industries for the last few months. Nine’s stock has had a volatile few months, with the stock slightly recovering in March after its disappointing February where a reported drop in profit spooked investors.

HT&E

HT&E is another radio industry stock that was impacted by slow February ad sales. HT&E is down around 6% this month, also due to the ongoing reaction from investors to the large impairment charges in its CY22 results.

NZME

The NZ media conglomerate reported solid growth in revenue and EBITDA in CY22, but couldn’t escape the same investor jitters that effected Australian stocks. Media stocks generally are likely to remain depressed until concerns about economic slowdown are allayed.