Saudi Research and Media Group’s (SRMG) net income fell 14% y-o-y to SAR 560 mn in FY 2023, according to its latest earnings release (pdf). Meanwhile, revenues grew 1% y-o-y to SAR 3.7 bn.
Dive deep: The integrated media company attributed the drop in net income during the year to losses by the Saudi Printing and Packaging Company (SPPC), of which SRMG owns a majority 70% stake. The SPPC reported a net loss of SAR 132 mn, including a goodwill impairment of SAR 35 mn.
Key highlights: SRMG highlighted some achievements across its media portfolio, including launching free-to-air factual Arabic documentary platform Asharq Documentary and Asharq Discovery with Warner Bros. It also launched Asharq Podcasts and Radio Asharq with Bloomberg as it taps into audio content. It also rolled out a new platform for Asharq Al Awsat, helping raise readership by 49% y-o-y in the second half of 2023. Its podcast platform Thmanyah hit 275 mn listeners last year, it said.
What they said: “2023 was a landmark year for SRMG, marked by significant achievements as we continued to successfully execute our transformation strategy and further cement our position as the region’s largest integrated media group. Over the past 12 months, we broadened our news, content, and infotainment offering, drove dynamic growth in our existing and new business verticals, and fortified our internal capabilities and knowledge base,” SRMG CEO Jomana Al Rashid said.