MTG Sees Revenue Growth

Revenues were up by 14 percent in the second quarter at MTG, rising to SEK 4.2 billion ($513.7 million), with a net profit of SEK 413 million ($50 million).

“This was the fourth consecutive quarter of at least 5 percent organic sales growth, and the first without the discontinued Czech, Baltic and African businesses,” said Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, MTG’s president and CEO. “Our organic sales growth was driven by another standout performance by our Nordic entertainment business, up 8 percent, with higher advertising and subscription prices, the further development of both Viaplay and Viafree, and the positive impact of partnership agreements with both content owners and distributors. We expect more than 40 percent organic eSports sales growth in the second half of the year, given the significant weighting of the eSports events calendar to the coming six month period and the signing of new commercial agreements. MTGx’s organic growth in Q2 reflected the different events calendar this year.”

The Nordic entertainment division, encompassing free TV and radio and pay TV, reported revenues that were up 8 percent, led by the strong performance of Viaplay. International entertainment, including Bulgarian operations and Trace, reported a 5-percent organic gain in revenues. At MTG Studios, revenues gained slightly but profitability was impacted by lower license sales. Revenues at MTGx rose some 70 percent following the consolidation of InnoGames.

Madsen Lindemann continued, “The shift in consumer video consumption towards on demand and online entertainment products, such as streaming services, eSports and gaming, has continued at a rapid pace. We remain very well positioned to benefit from this trend to digital and mobile consumption with our Nordic streaming services, such as Viaplay and Viafree, and our global eSports and gaming operations, such as Turtle and InnoGames. At the same time, our linear TV and radio products continue to offer very attractive returns on investment for advertisers, and the unique consumer content offering provided by our linear pay-TV channels is more broadly available than ever. We are one of the few entertainment companies to have integrated on and offline, linear and on demand, fixed and mobile products. We have also continued to execute on our strategic transformation by completing the divestment of our Czech operation, stepping up our shareholding in InnoGames, and announcing the acquisition of Kongregate, which will give even greater scale to our high growth and profitable online gaming vertical. We have also continued to invest into original drama production, key sports rights such as the Champions League and Ice Hockey World Championship, new virtual reality app Viareal, and as a founding shareholder in the World Boxing Super Series. Our markets are at the forefront of the industry transformation, and our products are better positioned than ever to shape the future of entertainment.”