NMG chief executive officer Duangkamol Chotana said that in the period ending March 31, the group had achieved Bt681.2 million in overall revenue, below the Bt777.6 million posted in the same quarter last year.

The group’s Bt39.5-million loss in the quarter is considerably higher than the loss of Bt2.88 million made in the same period last year.

“Our weaker performance was caused by a big slowdown in the economy, which was reflected in a huge decline in our advertising revenue, which dropped 8 per cent in the first quarter. Meanwhile, our sales revenue for printed media and pocket books also dropped, by 23 per cent year on year,” she said.

“However, in the first quarter, we were able to reduce operating costs through our policy of continuously controlling expenditure. The group was able to reduce expenditure from Bt780.5 million in the first quarter of last year to Bt720.7 million in the first quarter of this year,” Duangkamol added.

“The major source of revenue earned by media business is advertising. We acknowledge that revenue from advertising was not high in the first quarter, as many business customers were still not confident about the economic situation. Large-scale enterprises were also waiting for clear national policies from the government.

“Beyond this, the decline in our revenue also derived from sales of print media, which have been dropping. This slowdown situation has affected all print media businesses around the world. NMG has, however, adjusted itself continuously to promote sustainable income. This includes the strategic expansion into digital-TV business, where we have seen higher revenue from our digital-TV channel NOW 26 compared to the same quarter of last year,” the CEO explained.