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Surya Citra to slash capex by more than 50%

Publicly listed media conglomerate PT Surya Citra Media (SCMA) plans to cut its capital expenditures (capex) this year by more than half compared with its capex last year, following a court’s ruling to revoke a ministerial decree on digital TV

Khoirul Amin (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, April 23, 2015

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Surya Citra to slash capex by more than 50%

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ublicly listed media conglomerate PT Surya Citra Media (SCMA) plans to cut its capital expenditures (capex) this year by more than half compared with its capex last year, following a court'€™s ruling to revoke a ministerial decree on digital TV.

'€œWith the cancellation of multiplexing, our capex this year will not be as much as our capex last year,'€ Surya Citra president director Sutanto Hartono said on Tuesday, referring to the court'€™s decision.

Surya Citra'€™s capex will now be around Rp 150 billion (US$11.6 million) this year, lower than the approximately Rp 350 billion last year, as it would stop digitization in a number of areas, he told reporters.

On March 5, the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) handed down a verdict in a lawsuit filed by the Association of Network Television (ATVJI) against the ministerial decree, resulting in the licenses of 33 companies that had won multiplexing tenders getting revoked.

Surya Citra, along with other big media conglomerates such as MNC Group, VIVA Group and Trans Corp., are among the media companies that won the multiplexing tenders.

Sutanto refused to disclose the amount of investment it has already spent on digital TV, but he said that his firm had spent billions of rupiah for the digitization.

'€œThe investment varied in one area to another, depending on their infrastructure conditions. In the eastern region, for example, we need to provide infrastructure, while in Jakarta we only need to add transmitters,'€ he said.

The Communications and Information Ministry previously decided to file an appeal over the PTUN'€™s ruling under consideration that a number of companies had already spent some amount of money for the digitization, but the plan has seen no progress to date.

Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said previously that the digitization was important to provide faster Internet connection as the 700-MHz band, which is currently used for analog TV, could be allocated for Internet broadband.

Sutanto said that with the delay on digitization, his firm would use its Rp 150 billion-capex this year for facility maintenance and replacement.

Surya Citra aimed to outperform the market, which was forecast to grow between 9 percent and 11 percent this year, he said.

Under the assumption, Surya Citra targets to increase its revenues around 12 to 19 percent this year.

The firm booked a 9.8 percent increase in its revenues to Rp 4.06 trillion last year from Rp 3.69 trillion in 2013. Its net profits rose to Rp 1.45 trillion in 2014 from Rp 1.29 trillion in the previous year.

Sutanto said that his firm would still focus on adding more local content, which was favored by viewers.

Surya Citra runs two free-to-air television stations SCTV and Indosiar, which are famous for FTV (television movies) and dangdut talent search programs, respectively.

He said that he expected fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) would still become the largest contributor to his firm'€™s advertising revenues, making up around 60 percent of its total advertising revenues.

Advertisement from e-commerce also started picking up, while advertisement from telecommunications slowed down.

Surya Citra'€™s advertising revenues hit Rp 4.96 trillion last year, a 9 percent increase from Rp 4.55 trillion in 2013.

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