Nation Media Group Plc has posted a 20.7% decline in Profit before tax for the financial year 2019. The company attributes the decline in profit to a softer economy and problems among key advertisers. NMG, Kenya’s biggest news publisher has been on a steep decline in earnings as well as it’s trading price on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

The publisher of the Daily Nation newspaper among other leading titles and operator of broadcast stations said pretax profit fell to 1.3 billion shillings.

The government cancelled the licences of online sports betting companies in the middle of last year, citing concerns about the social impact of widespread gambling, cutting off a key source of advertising revenue for media companies.

Nation Media, which also operates in neighboring Tanzania and Uganda, said there would be no final dividend but instead offered investors a bonus share issue of one for every 10 held.

NMG has said it will invest some of its cash reserves to develop new revenue streams from digital media, it said, as scope for growth in its print business narrows, and as it seeks to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.