Multichoice reports results to end 3Q 2021

JOHANNESBURG — MultiChoice Group (MCG, or the group), Africa’s leading video entertainment company, reported a satisfactory set of results for the period ended 30 September 2021 (1H FY22), achieving its best organic revenue growth since 2016 and successfully absorbing additional content costs.

The group increased its 90-day active subscriber base by 1m to reach 21.1m subscribers, split between 12.2m households (58%) in the Rest of Africa (RoA) and 8.9m (42%) in South Africa. This represents 5% year-on-year (YoY) growth, which came primarily from the Rest of Africa, thanks to major sporting events and successful local content productions. The South African economic environment remains challenging as the impact of COVID-19 has placed many consumers under financial pressure.

South Africa

The South African business was impacted by an increasingly difficult consumer climate. In addition, the prior period benefitted from strict lockdown conditions as consumers prioritised video entertainment services. This resulted in muted 2% subscriber growth YoY or 0.2m subscribers on a 90-day active basis.

Connected Video users on DStv and Showmax continue to grow as online consumption increases. Paying Showmax subscribers increased by 42% YoY, contributing to an increase of 3% in the group’s African OTT market share since December 2020.

Rest of Africa

The Rest of Africa (RoA) business grew its 90-day active subscriber base by 0.8m subscribers or 7% YoY, with the closing base now surpassing the 12m mark at 12.2m. The popularity of local content such as Big Brother Naija and major sporting events contributed to another robust subscriber growth performance, supported by the segment’s regionalisation strategy.

Key performance indicators
As at 30 September

                                    2021               YoY
                           2020  Organic      2021       %
                       Reported   growth  Reported  change
                       --------  -------  --------  ------
90-day active
subscribers ('000)[1]    20,061      993    21,054       5
 South Africa             8,704      160     8,864       2
 Rest of Africa          11,357      833    12,190       7
Subscribers ('000)[2]    16,030      593    16,623       4
 South Africa             8,108       85     8,193       1
 Rest of Africa           7,922      508     8,430       6

1. Defined as all subscribers that have an active primary/principal subscription within the 90-day period on or before reporting date.
2. Subscriber numbers are a non-IFRS unaudited operating measure of the actual number of paying subscribers at the end of the respective period, regardless of the type of programming package to which they subscribe.

Technology segment

The technology segment, Irdeto, delivered a solid performance despite the global silicon chip shortage which impacted revenues.

During the year, Irdeto was successful in winning another two tier-1 media security customers, while also focusing on the development of new services such as connected transport, rail, construction equipment and medical devices. Irdeto’s Trusted Home product was rolled out in South Africa as part of the DStv Internet launch, offering customers enhanced home network security, parental controls and Wi-Fi management solutions.