Nation to sell 51pc stake in Tanzanian media firm

Nation Media Group is in the process of selling 51 per cent of its shareholding in Mwananchi Communications Limited to a Tanzanian registered entity.

This follows enactment of the Media Services Act that restricts foreign ownership in a print media enterprise to 49 per cent, which company chairman Wilfred Kiboro said “posed a challenge to the group”.

“We continue to operate in an unpredictable and challenging regulatory environment across the region,” Dr Kiboro said during the company’s 55th annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi.

“In Kenya, the latest affront on press freedom was witnessed by the Government’s closure of four private television broadcasting stations, including NTV, for a period of one week. This adversely affected our viewership and advertising revenues,” Dr Kiboro added.

He was referring to the January 30 shutdown of transmission systems, signals for NTV and KTN News which were restored on air on February 5, while those for Citizen TV and Inooro TV were restored on February 8.

INVEST IN TRAINING

The three were shut down by the Communications Authority of Kenya as they broadcast live opposition leader Raila Odinga’s “swearing-in” as the “people’s president” at Uhuru Park in Nairobi.

NMG also intends to continue to developing, nurturing and enhancing the skills of its staff by investing in their training both locally and internationally, Dr Kiboro stated.

“We have seen the impact of this in our improved journalism and the innovations in our content offerings. We invested in a new digital publishing system, Newscycle Solutions, which is a state-of-the–art publishing system that will enable NMG to exploit and optimise our media assets across all platforms.

“The Group is evaluating various opportunities for developing new revenue streams and recently launched the Lit360 music label to promote local artistes and has partnered with a company to launch a gaming competition,” he added.

The company is also banking on its partnerships with the government and private entities to boost its presence in the regional market,

NMG has partnered with USAid to support Tusome (a Government of Kenya initiative) which is a literacy programme to expand access to reading material to the more than 22,000 public primary schools.

The leading media company also entered into a long-term partnership with the Ministry of Forests and Environment to ensure the achievement of the objective of planting 250 million trees by 2022 to increase Kenya’s forest cover from 7 per cent to 15 per cent.

FARMING CLINICS

Additionally, NMG has held various successful agriculture ‘Farming Clinics’ forums under the Seeds of Gold brand, which have attracted sponsors and a number participants.

“Our key focus going forward will be to serve the people by informing them and educating them about the things that matter most to them. We shall continue to carry out our mandate as the people's watchdog to promote plural democracy, transparency, accountability and good governance.

“In this regard, we will continue to expose and fight corruption wherever it is, relentlessly and fearlessly for the good of our country and for future generations,” Dr Kiboro said.

RETAINED DIVIDEND

During the function, NMG shareholders approved payment of Sh10 dividend per share, making it one of the highest payouts by a Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed company.

Dr Kiboro explained that although the 2017 profit was not as high as the previous years, the board had retained dividend at the same level because of the strong business growth outlook.

The group’s directors had recommended payment of a final dividend of Sh7.50 per share on the issued share capital as at December 31, 2017, adding to the Sh2.50 a share interim dividend paid on September 30, 2017.