OREANDA-NEWS. May 05, 2014. CTC Media, Inc. (“CTC Media” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: CTCM), Russia’s leading independent media company, announced its unaudited consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014.

HIGHLIGHTS
Total revenues up 10% year-on-year in ruble terms to USD 186.2 million


Advertising revenues up 12% year-on-year in ruble terms

Combined Russian national inventory was fully sold-out for Q1 and more than 90% contracted for the full year at average prices higher than in 2013.

OIBDA up 28% year-on-year in ruble terms to USD 56.0 million, with an OIBDA margin of 30.1%

Fully diluted earnings per share of USD 0.20 (Q1 2013: USD 0.18)

Net cash position of USD 195.2 million at the end of the period

Payment of cash dividends of USD 0.175 per share

The Board of Directors currently intends to pay cash dividends of USD 0.70 per share (or up to approximately USD 109 million in the aggregate) in 2014 and has declared a cash dividend of USD 0.175 per share (or approximately USD 27 million in the aggregate) to be paid on or about June 30, 2014 to shareholders of record as of June 16, 2014. Further dividends are anticipated in the remaining quarters of 2014, subject to the Company’s earnings, financial position and cash requirements.

KEY EVENTS AFTER THE REPORTING PERIOD

CTC Love Channel, targeting the 11-34 year-old audience, launched April 1, 2014 in cable and satellite with penetration of approximately 20% and 13 million subscribers in 20 cities in Russia

Start of first e-commerce project by a television company in Russia with Sweet me clothes brand

Yuliana Slashcheva, Chief Executive Officer of CTC Media, commented: “Our Russian TV advertising revenues grew 12% year-on-year in ruble terms in first quarter, and we therefore significantly outpacing the estimated 7-8% growth of the Russian TV advertising market. This result was obtained despite the airing of coverage of the Sochi Olympics on the state owned channels in February and the shift of viewers’ attention in March to news broadcasts about the Ukraine crisis. Our Everest sales house successfully achieved full sellout and sponsorship revenue growth above 50% in the first quarter. Our full year estimated channel inventory is now more than 90% committed for 2014 at average prices higher than in 2013.

Our results are reported in US dollars and were therefore impacted by the 13% depreciation of the ruble against the dollar during the period.

We expect the growth in the Russian TV advertising market to slow in the remaining quarters of 2014 and to be at the lower end of the previously indicated range of approximately 5-8% for the full year. We strive to outperform the overall market in Russian TV advertising revenues for the year. We are carefully monitoring the effects of the situation in Ukraine and related economic sanctions on our business, including, in particular, the impact on our sublicensing revenues from our Ukrainian partners. In addition, we have implemented internal policies and procedures to ensure our compliance with applicable economic sanctions, including with respect to Telcrest, one of our principal minority stockholders, and its designees on our Board of Directors; Telcrest is controlled by Bank Rossiya, which has been designated as a target of US sanctions.

“Stringent cost controls contributed to record 28% OIBDA growth in rubles, ruble terms of 28%, and a more than 4 percentage point increase in our first quarter OIBDA margin to 30.1%. We reduced our programming costs by 1% in ruble terms and expect them to grow at a slower rate than our revenues for the year and by less than in 2013. Due to the currently projected impact of the Ukrainian crisis and its potential impact on overall market condition and, in particular, our sublicensing sales to our Ukrainian partners, we take a conservative approach to our OIBDA margin to be in the range of approximately 28-30%, depending on the actual multiplex costs incurred and the amount of sublicensing revenues earned from Ukrainian broadcasters during the period, or approximately 30-32% excluding anticipated digital multiplex costs. Governmental authorities indicate that estimated digital multiplex payments in 2014 will be up to USD 25 million for the CTC and Domashny channels in aggregate, depending on the actual rollout during the period.

“CTC’s audience share was slightly down in the first quarter but overall viewership was up and resulted in higher advertising revenues. The successful third season of Kitchen achieved an average audience share of 21.9% in Russia, which was even higher than the first two seasons. We also launched new series The Boat in the quarter that demonstrated excellent performance and improved our average share for its time slot.

“Domashny was one of the few Russian TV channels to increase its audience share during the Sochi Olympics. We have been running an updated horizontal programming schedule since the start of the year, which has already started to attract a younger audience with a 3 percentage point increase in audience share among 25-44 year old females being further tangible proof of the success of Channel’s strategy.

“Peretz moved up two spots from 12th to 10th position in its target audience group in the quarter and we have launched several new programs in early April to build on this momentum.

“Our transmedia business generated 57% revenue growth following the change in our digital strategy and transition to focus on the monetization of our shows across multiple domains and platforms. We are working on the close integration of our digital projects with our TV channel content, in order to develop loyal on and offline audiences. Successful series such like the The Boat or Kitchen have attracted more than 7 million views each on our digital platforms when aired on our TV channels.

Overall, our investments in the key strategic areas that we have identified are already bringing solid results and we are combining healthy revenue growth with careful cost control to deliver industry high profit levels. Our net cash position continues to provide us the means to invest in the business and return cash to shareholders, in line with our objective to generate long term shareholder value and benefit for all of our stakeholders.”