The company reported a net loss from operations of Bt3.98 million for the first nine months. It also reported allowance for doubtful debt with related companies of Bt920,000, allowance for impaired investments of Bt6.09 million and compensation for early retirement of Bt48.01 million. Including the extraordinary items, NMG recorded a net loss of Bt59 million for the first nine months.

For the third quarter, NMG reported a net operating loss of Bt7.76 million. Inclusion of allowance for doubtful debt with related companies of Bt920,000, allowance for impairment of investments of Bt6.09 million and compensation for early retirement of Bt3.18 million resulted in a net loss of Bt17.95 million after extraordinary items. This was down from a net loss before extraordinary items of Bt234.83 million in the same period last year.

In a report to the stock exchange, the company said sales and services revenues for the first nine months increased 3 per cent year on year. This was due to a growth in circulation revenues of 14 per cent, in newspapers of 9 per cent, pocketbooks, comic books and magazines 21 per cent and printing services along with international magazines 15 per cent. But advertising revenue from publishing dropped 4 per cent, while advertising revenue from broadcasting increased 14 per cent.

In addition, the cost of sales for the first nine months decreased 5 per cent year on year. This was due to the control of production and paper consumption, which resulted in an 8-per-cent drop in printing costs, even though the cost of paper increased 9 per cent on-year. Television production costs were down 49 per cent after restructuring TV programmes and airtime.

Sales and administrative expenses decreased 5 per cent on-year, due mainly to a modified sales-promotion policy in directly targeting customers. Conversely, transportation expenses increased 6 per cent, because of higher fuel prices and business-logistics expansion.