DASHBOARD: Media valuation comps for April 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. Overall, economic growth is expected to be sluggish relative to 2022, but the impact on advertising may be muted if unemployment stays low.

Seven West Media

Seven West Media declined around 7% last month, a part of a broader sell off as the stock has shed over 40% of its value in the last year due to poor performance. This trend has not been limited to Seven West but has been felt by most of the broader media industry over the last year.

Nine

Nine’s had a relatively stable April, increasing around 4% which may be due to a number of share buy-backs that the company undertook during the month.

Southern Cross Media

SCM continued to decline as the radio-dominated stock felt the impact of the slowdown in regional advertising spend. Digital revenues are not yet big enough to make a difference. Medium-term concerns about the overall ad market, and the end of a share buyback program, aren’t helping.