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Mr Pikirayi Deketeke

Harare Bureau
Listed diversified media group Zimbabwe Newspapers’ registered a modest revenue growth for the five months to May 2017 mainly driven by its commercial printing division which recorded a 33 percent growth in revenue.

The growth in the commercial printing division driven by Natprint was on the back of the introduction of Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 which saw most local companies getting their packaging done locally.

The group’s broadcast revenue for the period under review was up 6 percent while the print division recorded a 10 percent drop in revenue as the newspaper market continues to be subjected to serious pressure the world over.

Zimpapers chief executive Pikirayi Deketeke told the company’s annual general meeting the media group had made significant investment in business development, introducing strategies that will enable maximisation of returns.

“Being a content factory our objective is to ensure that our content can be shared on as many diverse platforms as possible. Our goal is to reach all our readers on their platform of choice.

“Digital provides us with a different platform where our readers are consulting our content so it behooves us to have a presence on those platforms, hence the inception of digital at Zimpapers,” said Mr Deketeke.

He said new innovative electronic and digital products introduced by the group are expected to bolster growth.

On revenue contribution, the print division contributed the most at 74 percent followed by the commercial printing at 13 percent, radio division at 12 percent digital and digital at one percent.

In terms of the profit, the Harare branch contributed 42 percent, Bulawayo (20 percent), Star FM (19 percent), Natprint (19 percent) and there was no contribution from Diamond FM.

“While the print revenues are declining, the print business still brings in the bulk of our revenues. The diversified portfolio ensures that the group’s profitability is anchored on various pillars.

“We have 12 newspapers which are still holding fort despite the newspaper market being subjected to serious pressure the world over,” said Mr Deketeke.
He added that the group is resuscitating Natprint (the commercial printing division) through further investment.

Mr Deketeke said Natprint has come back stronger on the back of the introduction of industry protection measures by Government.

“Most companies are now manufacturing locally and we have benefitted from doing packaging for them. We were operating at 40 percent at Natprint but capacity has since jumped to 100 percent. We are also working on introducing a new printing press,” said Mr Deketeke.

The Herald remained the market leader in terms of market share for dailies registering a growth of 31 percent from 26 percent followed by Daily news while H-Metro registered growth from 14 percent to 20 percent.

Sunday Mail leads the weeklies after registering growing to 27 percent from 19 percent while Star FM remained the market leader in terms of radios after a marginal rise to 51 percent from 50 percent.

“Our aim as a company is to create an integrated media house and we have various assets in the radio as well besides the print,” he said.