Media24 notched up another hefty trading loss in financial 2018 as it continued to plough money into digital media and e-commerce operations while having to contend with the structural decline in its mature print media businesses. Media24, the single largest media group in the country, is wholly owned by Naspers and reported a fall in turnover to R4.7bn from R4.9bn. But costs of over R5bn left an operating loss of R373m, up from R356m in the 12 months to end-March 2017. The trading loss of about $30m is in the context of Naspers’s $11.3bn profit for the year. Vestact CEO Paul Theron said that Media24 was in danger of being just a "rounding error" for Naspers. Media24 does not reveal the sources of the operating losses and does not provide a detailed breakdown of the "costs of providing services and sale of goods" or of the "selling, general and administration expenses". 'Strong results' But CEO Esmare Weideman referred to "strong results" delivered by Media24’s print media division,...

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