Stan Near Profitability But Facing Stiff Competition

Nine Entertainment Co’s Stan streaming platform now has more than 1.7 million subscribers, but that hasn’t stopped it taking a $21.3 million bite out of its parent company’s earnings.

The SVOD service brought in $157.1 million revenue in the last financial year – a 62 per cent rise on the year before – but it cost $178.4 million to do it.

Worryingly, Nine highlighted the addition of Disney and Showtime content to the platform as a key driver of its strong growth over the previous summer, but it faces a high likelihood of losing that content in the coming months with the arrival of the Disney+ streaming service.

Stan has been growing subscribers and recently raised its prices by $2.

Nine said the SVOD had a positive cash flow and EBITDA for the second half of the financial year, and it now expects Stan to “move strongly into profitability” this financial year.

The company now wholly owns Stan after a merger with Fairfax, and “synergies realised since the transaction was completed” were a contributor to those results.

Overall, Nine reported a 12 per cent increase in after tax net profit to $234 million and will give shareholders a five cent dividend.

The company has also announced today the appointment of a new chief financial officer Paul Koppelman, who will come into the role early next month.

Mr Koppelman has no media experience but previously was a CFO at business software firm Aconex until its acquisition by Oracle, and prior to that was CFO during the IPO of Medibank.

He also acted as CFO of two BHP divisions in the UK and the Netherlands.