FAST NEWS: TVB forecasts positive interim EBITDA

The Latest: Television Broadcasts Ltd. (0511.HK, TVB) announced Monday that based on its current business performance, it expects to achieve positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) in the first half of this year, which is a significant improvement compared with the EBITDA loss in the same period last year.

Looking Up: The company’s advertising revenue from its terrestrial free-to-air channels in Hong Kong and myTV Super platform recorded double-digit and 30% year-on-year growth in the second quarter of this year, respectively.

Take Note: The average weekday prime time TV rating points of its main free-to-air channel, TVB Jade, dropped from 17.2 in the second quarter of last year to 16.5 in the second quarter of this year.

Digging Deeper: TVB, Hong Kong’s largest television content creator and broadcaster, used to have a monopoly in the city’s television market, but with the emergence of social platforms and streaming media changing the ecology of the advertising market, the company, which is mainly based on advertising revenue, has suffered a significant drop in revenue, and has recorded a loss for the sixth consecutive year since 2018. However, its management revealed in April that it expects to achieve significant positive EBITDA for the full year this year, while it also expects to record a net profit in the second half of the year.

Market Reaction: TVB’s stock opened higher on Tuesday and closed up 3.6% at HK$3.18 by the midday break. The stock now trades near the lower end of its 52-week range.

Translation by A. Au

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