MD Pictures Bullish Nearly 4,000, NET TV Will Acquire? Check Out The Review

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Companies engaged in the existing media free to air are currently being targeted to be able to merge and acquire. Because the FTA margin in the country is getting smaller and the losses are very large.

Berdasarkan data, merger dan akuisisi di dunia media bukan hal yang baru dan sebenarnya sudah berlangsung sejak tahun 1989, di mana saat itu Sony Corp mengakui Columbia Pictures senilai 3,4 miliar dolar AS.

In Indonesia, we can see when PT Surya Citra Media Tbk (SCMA) acquired many media companies. Meanwhile, PT Media Nusantara Citra Tbk (MNCN) has also succeeded in acquiring several TVs that have been free to air.

Moreover, the issuer owned by Manoj Punjabi PT MD Pictures Tbk plans to be able to release about 20 percent of the shares through the issuance of new shares aka rights issue. Reportedly, the company is eyeing 300 million US dollars or equivalent to IDR 4.5 trillion over the next two years.

Not only that, issuers with FILM stock code supported by Tencent are also seeking funding of 150 million US dollars in the next six months. The funding is sought through rights issue and debt.

On the other hand, MD Pictures also plans to enter the film distribution and launch its own content platform. This is in talks to acquire other companies for the same. So, there are rumors that the acquisition will be made of PT Net Visi Media Tbk (NETV). FILM management itself does not deny or justify the news.

To date, the Company has also entered into partnerships with various digital platforms such as Disney+ Hotstar, WeTV, Iflix, Viu, Netflix, Vidio and MAXstream Telkomsel to distribute films.

In 2021, MD Pictures sells about 15 percent of shares to Tencent for about $50 million that puts the company on a global map. Currently, Punjabi's family owns 72 percent of shares and the public is 13 percent.

Regarding financial performance, MD Pictures recorded a significant increase in net profit, which was up to 418 percent from the previous period or almost reached IDR 160 billion in 2022. The increase in profit was supported by a surge in sales in 2022 which reached IDR 439.9 billion.

In comparison, the previous net profit reached IDR 33.7 billion in 2021. Meanwhile, in 2020, the company's net profit collapsed to minus almost IDR 57 billion. At this time, COVID-19 has spread rapidly so that all community activities are strictly restricted, including watching in theaters.

Meanwhile, during the first three months of 2023, MD Pictures recorded digital sales skyrocketing by 440.5 percent to IDR 32.7 billion from IDR 6 billion in the first quarter of 2022 and contributed 60.8 percent in the sales post.

The FILM recorded sales of IDR 61.2 billion, a slight decrease of 1.6 percent compared to the same period last year of IDR 62.15 billion. Meanwhile, MD Pictures' net profit fell 73 percent to IDR 2.9 billion from the first quarter of last year's IDR 10.6 billion.

Based on trading data from the Indonesia Stock Exchange, NETV shares jumped to 9.93 percent at the end of trading to the position of IDR 155/share. The transaction value reached IDR 1.26 billion and the trading volume reached 8.32 million shares. So that at the close of Thursday, August 3, the issuer auto-rejected the upper (ARA).