Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited (NEC) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning everyone, and thank you for joining us for our H1FY26 results briefing. I'm Matt Stanton, CEO of Nine Entertainment. Joining me here today is our CFO, Martin Roberts. And we are coming to you from our studio in North Sydney, which was upgraded in preparation for the Winter Olympics. The studio has been integral to the coverage of all the action from Milano Cortino that has enthralled Australian audiences on Nine, Nine Now and Stan over recent weeks. I'd like to start off by acknowledging the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all First Nations people today. For myself, I am on the land of the Camaro Gaul people of the Eora Nation. For the six months to December, Nine has reported Group EBITDA, including Radio and NBN and Darwin, of $201 million, up 6% on PCP, on revenue of $1.1 billion. On a continuing business basis, this equated to EBITDA of $192 million, also up 6%, and net profit after tax of $95 million, up 30% on PCP. EPS of 6 cents per share was also up 30% and enabled the declaration of a 4.5 cent interim dividend. We were very pleased to report another half of EBITDA growth for the six months to December 2025, consistent with our guidance from August last year. Nine's diversity of revenue and strong cost performance helped to counter the weak advertising market, with growth from Stan, the mastheads, and robust results from Total Television. Overall, Nine's group EBITDA margin increased by nearly two percentage points to 18.2%. Subscription revenues grew by 13% across the half, underpinned by double-digit growth at Stan and in digital subscription revenues at Publishing. Across the half, w...