TV AZTECA ANNOUNCES SALES OF Ps.5,203 MILLION AND EBITDA OF Ps.668 MILLION IN THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2022.

MEXICO CITY: TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: AZTECACPO Latibex: XTZA), one of the two largest producers of Spanish-language television programming in the world, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter 2022 and full-year 2022.

"The increase in sales in the quarter results, to a large extent, from income related to the broadcast of the Qatar 2022 Soccer World Cup matches; however, the broadcast television advertising market in Mexico continues to face strong limitations", commented Rafael Rodriguez, CEO of TV Azteca. "The growth in costs for the period is derived from exhibition rights and content production related to the World Cup, as well as the generation of competitive programming to preserve our position in the sector, while the increase in expenses reflects operating activities consistent with the higher production efforts. Despite the increase in revenue in the quarter, higher costs and expenses negatively affected EBITDA".

"TV Azteca's sales have not been immune to the downward trend of the domestic broadcast television advertising market in the long term; the company's annual revenue in 2022 was down 15% in real terms compared to 2018 -- the year in which World Cup games were also broadcast -- translating into a real 12% decline in EBITDA. Alternatively, when compared to 2019, the period prior to the confinement due to the SARS-Cov-2 virus, revenue decreased 1% and EBITDA decreased 4%, after discounting inflation", added Mr. Rodriguez. "The company's sales are beginning to recover gradually, and will eventually reach pre-lockdown levels, however, we believe that the strong presence of digital media in the advertising market will pose major challenges and will continue to affect the trend of broadcast television revenues towards the future, which together with higher costs derived from increased production efforts, will keep our EBITDA at relatively low levels".

Fourth quarter results

Net sales for the period totaled Ps.5,203 million, 31% above the Ps.3,967 million of the same quarter of the previous year. Total costs and expenses increased 83% to Ps.4,535 million, from Ps.2,484 million the previous year.

As a result, the company reported EBITDA of Ps.668 million, compared to Ps.1,483 million a year ago. TV Azteca generated operating income of Ps.425 million, from Ps.1,308 million the previous year.

The company registered net income of Ps.125 million, compared to Ps.251 million in the same period of 2021.

4Q 2021

4Q...