Impact of Covid 19 on Media Sustainability https://zimbabwe.misa.org Another source of information about the financial performance of news media is a listing on a stock exchange. In South Africa, the only print group that remains listed on the JSE is Caxton, which publishes freesheets around the country and regional newspaper The Citizen. Caxton’s financial year-end was June, so it encompassed the lockdown period in South Africa. Caxton’s publishing, printing and distribution business figure, after depreciation and amortisation, was down around R100-million or 186% compared to the previous financial year. Its packaging business was also hit. the biggest in the country, Media24, a subsidiary of JSE-listed SA-based multinational Naspers, does publish financial statements and annual reports Revenues declined by R748.5 million or 11.8% to R5 572.4 million which has had a significant impact on profits. This decline can be attributed to the impact of the lockdown in the 4th quarter, given that from a turnover point of view, the Group was trading at similar levels to the prior year, pre-lockdown. The lockdown significantly impacted all our businesses, with the major impacts being felt in our newspaper business where advertising revenues dried up, the commercial printing operations were impacted by no publication or advertising insert printing work and the packaging divisions that service the fast food, cigarette and alcohol markets were also severely affected by the bans on trade in these sectors.73 Two of the big Print media companies, Arena Holdings and Independent Media, are unlisted and under no obligation to divulge company information. The remaining media company, Media24 also has a year end on March 31, five days after the extended, strict South African lockdown came into effect and which was to last the whole of April. It boasted an operating loss of around R222- million for the year ended 2020, almost 40% less than the loss for the previous year, but a loss nonetheless – and this was before the punishing lockdown. ZimPapers’ half-year results announcement to end-June 2020 tells of the company migrating some newspapers online “to conserve imported newsprint in the face of uncertainty in the movement of this critical raw material across the borders.” Another way of looking at this is that the company is conserving the brands and avoiding the embarrassment of shutting titles. The company seems to indicate these are now permanently online, but nothing stops the return to a print edition, unlike simply shutting down the titles. Moving titles online as a way of retaining some part of the business has been common in the region. The company’s results (examined in the accompanying case study) were dragged down by the newspaper division which had an operating loss of around ZWL$11 million, while its revenue comprised 58% of total revenue. In other words, the biggest earner of revenue lost money, and company profits were saved mainly by the commercial printing division. 73. SENS, “CAXTON & CTP Publishers and Printers Reviewed Provisional Results for the Year Ended 30 June 2020.” 20