Hong Kong's largest publisher Next Media yesterday declared its first interim dividend since the company listed in 1999, with a robust turnaround in its newly established Taiwan Apple Daily accounting for the solid result.
The publisher of Hong Kong and Taiwan-based Apple Daily and Next Magazine yesterday said net profit for the six months to September soared to $224.22 million from $91.03 million a year earlier.
Turnover surged 17.2 per cent to $1.68 billion and earnings per share swelled to 15.1 cents from 6.1.
The company declared a dividend of five cents and a special payout of 25 cents per share, boosting the share price 13.33 per cent to close at $3.825.
'It's pretty good for the company to declare an interim dividend - it is beyond our expectations,' CLSA analyst Adrian Lowe said.
Next Media executive director Stephen Ting said the turnaround in its Taiwan title - which soaked up more than $700 million in investment in the 2003-04 year - drove the interim result.
