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Baht/$ 33.60/68 (Bid/Ask)
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NUNTAWUN POLKUAMDEE
Nation Multimedia Group (NMG) plans to transform into a holding company while it splits off and lists profitable business units on the Market for Alternative Investment.
Subsidiary Nation Book International is the first company under the group that will be listed, possibly in the fourth quarter, according to NMG chief executive Thanachai Santichaikul. For the first half, Nation Book had profits of 20 million baht.
''The future of Nation Multimedia Group is as a holding company overseeing investments in various media ventures,'' Mr Thanachai said at an investors' briefing yesterday.
NMG, meanwhile, would spin off its flagship The Nation newspaper as well as its recently launched Xpress free tabloid.
A strategic partner would be brought in to take a 40% stake in the two English-language publications, with NMG holding 30% and existing management another 30%.
The changes come as NMG seeks to reduce its debt burden and control costs even as newsprint prices have soared and advertising spending has stayed flat.
NMG reported first-half profits of 1.1 million baht, up from losses of 4.89 million the year before. Revenues remained roughly stable at 1.56 billion baht for the first half compared with 1.51 billion last year.
The company's liabilities have fallen sharply to 2.32 billion baht at the end of June compared with 3.22 billion at the end of 2007, while assets have dropped to 3.24 billion from 4.14 billion at the end of last year. NMG sold off its headquarters building on Bang Na-Trat Road earlier this year for 948.63 million baht.
Mr Thanachai said the company would continue to sell off non-core assets, including provincial land holdings worth 300 to 400 million baht.
The sales would help further reduce its interest expenses, currently as high as 200 million baht per year.
He said the Thai-language Krungthep Turakij and Kom Chad Luek dailies accounted for more than 50% of total revenues for the group.
As for The Nation, broad strategic changes were needed.
''We have reduced headcount at The Nation to cut expenses by 10% this year as well as implemented workplace changes, such as a work-at-home programme, to further cut operating costs,'' he said.
As for the Xpress, launched in April as a free daily tabloid newspaper, Mr Thanachai acknowledged that the sharp increase in newsprint prices and transport costs had undermined the company's business plan.
NMG has since reduced its pages for Xpress to 28 from 44 to cut production costs, and had also cut the size of its three main daily newspapers.
''We are trying as hard as possible to reduce costs this year, whether it be through staff reductions and spinning off [The Nation and Xpress],'' he said.
''In the future, we could spin off other operations, whether it be Krungthep Turakij or Kom Chad Luek or even our TV operations. We hope that for this year, we can turn our balance sheet to the black and clear our liabilities within two years.''
Shares of NMG closed yesterday on the SET at 5.80 baht, down 20 satang, in trade worth 77,000 baht.
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