Nine Entertainment posted a 6% rise in full year net profit after tax to $221.23 million, ahead of analyst expectations. UBS had expected net profit after tax of $195.3 million.
Adding in profit from non-controlling interests, Nine reported a net profit after tax of $234 million, up 12%.
Revenue was up 40% to $1.85 billion. A fully franked final dividend of 5 cents was declared, for a full year payout of 10 cents.
CEO Hugh Marks told staff, in an email: "The topline results are very positive. Nine has real operating momentum in each of our divisions, in a tough ad market."
Nine's share price jumped 8% to close at $1.95.
For the year ahead, Nine expects earnings growth of around 10%. Nine expects the free to air market to fall by low single digits.
At the start of the 2020 financial year, television conditions remained weak in July. There was some improvement in August and Nine sees further upside from September onwards. As a result, Nine expects its free to air revenue in the current quarter to be down by 4%.
In the year to June, the broadcast division, including Nine Network and Macquarie Media, reported a 5% fall in revenue to $1.22 billion.
The fall was confined to the first half. Second half revenue grew by 2%, as market share gains more than offset the impact of a difficult broadcast market.
Print revenues were flat. Nine’s Digital & Publishing division includes Metro Media, 9Now, Pedestrian, CarAdvice and nine.com.au.
Together, Digital & Publishing reported revenue of $637 million, up 3%. Print now represents less than half the division's revenues, while print advertising contributes around 20%.
Marks called the result "very strong" in a challenging free to air television and housing market.
"It’s a validation of our strategy, the success of the investments we have made, and the efforts of our people," he says.
"Nine has real operating momentum in each of our divisions, with an earnings composition increasingly weighted to high growth businesses. In particular, we are well placed to further expand our share of the rapidly growing digital video market.
"Not only through 9Now and Stan but also more broadly across our digital assets.
"We will continue to draw on the strength of our traditional media assets to help us successfully build complementary, high growth, digital media businesses of the future."
Television is still the biggest part of Nine's business. The numbers for each divsiion within Nine:
Metro Media reported overall revenue growth of 3%, underpinned by digital advertising, after three years of single digit falls.
Overall, circulation/subscription revenues grew by 2%, with double-digit growth in digital subscribers across each of The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review.
Costs at Metro Media fell $21 million. EBITDA increased by 65% to $83 million.
Nine reported "softer conditions" in the broader digital display market.
Streaming platform Stan grew its active subscribes to 1.7million. Revenue was up 62% to $157.1 million.
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