The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday to communicate its 2017/18 financial statements.
According to the SABC, the year under review saw the SABC being stabilised, governance improving and the board taking steps to fill vacant executive management positions.
In delivering on its mandate, the SABC’s 18 radio stations and three television channels exceeded their local content and genre quotas, as set by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).
The SABC’s mandate to broadcast sports of national interest was also realised, despite the rising costs of sports rights and the absence of a dedicated sports channel.
The SABC says it had a demanding financial year; with cash resources stretched to the maximum to ensure continued business operations. Total revenue was R6.6 billion against a budget of R7.3 billion, resulting in an underperformance of R709 million (10%).
Year-on-year performance however showed an improvement of R56 million (1%) driven mainly by commercial revenue. Total expenditure incurred for the 2017/18 financial year amounted to R7.269 billion compared to the budget of R7.279 billion. The R11 million (1%) underspend is mainly owing to amortisation of content and other expenses.
The SABC says it had a net loss of R622 million for the 2017/18 financial year, compared to R977 million in the previous financial year.
The corporation says it still faces tough economic challenges, which sees expenses exceeding the revenue generated. There are significant liquidity challenges which have resulted in the SABC not being able to settle its creditors timeously.
The turnaround strategy that was developed subsequent to the financial year end is designed to ultimately return the corporation to its financial stability.
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