PCCW sees strong growth of media business in the second half

PCCW, which saw its consolidated net profit rise 2 per cent in the first half, expects the return of English Premier League football matches on Now TV this month to step up growth in its media business.

George Chan Ching-cheong, PCCW's group managing director, yesterday described Now TV's exclusive broadcast rights to those league matches for three seasons as "a catalyst", which has led to new customers signing up and existing users upgrading to its higher value "Super Sports Pack" programming since the start of the year.

"We expect this momentum to accelerate in the second half of the year as the new English Premier League season kicks off," Chan said.

PCCW, which is controlled by media and telecommunications mogul Richard Li Tzar-kai, yesterday reported that its consolidated net profit reached HK$856 million in the first half, up from HK$836 million a year ago, on the back of solid growth from its core media, information-technology services and telecommunications businesses.

That better-than-expected performance blew away last month's estimate by Barclays of a 12.6 per cent year-on-year fall in consolidated net profit to HK$731 million.

PCCW's core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - a measure of operating profitability - climbed 7 per cent to HK$3.94 billion from HK$3.67 billion.