Nation Media Group
Nation Media Group is the largest independent media house in East and Central Africa, and its 2025 results show the cost of transformation rather than decline. Group revenue slipped 3.1% to Shs 6.04 billion ($46.7 million), and the company posted its third consecutive annual loss: a net loss of Shs 308.6 million ($2.4 million), widening from Shs 254.4 million in 2024. But beneath the falling top line is a deliberate pivot: digital and broadcasting revenues each grew 5%, while legacy print, hit by inflation, currency pressure and structural decline, continued to shrink. For a group that frames itself around independent, public-interest journalism in a region where that is not guaranteed, the question is whether the digital and broadcasting businesses can scale fast enough to offset print before the losses erode its still-solid balance sheet.
Nation Media Group: key financial indicators 2024–2025
| Indicator (Shs m) | 2024 | 2025 | Change (Shs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 6,229.6 ($46.2m) | 6,039.4 ($46.7m) | -3.1% |
| Gross profit | 4,256.1 ($31.6m) | 4,133.7 ($32.0m) | -2.9% |
| Operating loss | (458.7) ($-3.4m) | (695.7) ($-5.4m) | wider loss |
| Loss before tax | (253.6) ($-1.9m) | (320.8) ($-2.5m) | wider loss |
| Loss for the year | (254.4) ($-1.9m) | (308.6) ($-2.4m) | wider loss |
| Total comprehensive loss | (465.4) ($-3.5m) | (259.7) ($-2.0m) | narrower |
| Equity holders’ funds | 7,220.6 ($53.5m) | 6,959.4 ($53.8m) | -3.6% |
| Cash & bank balances | 1,342.0 ($9.9m) | 1,328.8 ($10.3m) | -1.0% |
| Earnings per share (Shs) | (1.5) | (1.8) | wider loss |
Source: Nation Media Group PLC, audited 2025 Annual Report & Financial Statements (year ended 31 December 2025; auditor PwC, approved 24 April 2026). No dividend declared. USD converted at each year’s average rate ($1 = 134.88 KES in 2024; $1 = 129.31 KES in 2025); the percentage change column reflects the shilling figures, as the shilling strengthened over the period and dollar comparisons would overstate revenue.
Nation Media Group PLC is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and cross-listed in Uganda and Rwanda (NSE/USE/RSE: NMG). Founded in 1959 by the Aga Khan, it remains controlled by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development and is the dominant independent media group across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. Its business runs across two reported segments: Newspapers & Digital, and Broadcasting. It holds a substantial associate investment (Shs 1.70 billion), and carries no significant debt beyond lease liabilities, with total equity of Shs 7.04 billion against total assets of Shs 9.84 billion.
Nation Media Group: media asset map
| Asset | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Nation / Sunday Nation | Newspapers (Kenya) | Flagship titles, first printed 1960 |
| Business Daily, Taifa Leo, The EastAfrican | Newspapers | Business Daily expanded into Tanzania and Uganda in 2025 |
| nation.africa & digital platforms | Digital | Digital revenue +5%; growing subscriptions |
| NTV / NTV Uganda | Television | Broadcasting rebuild; +5% revenue |
| Nation FM, Easy FM, K FM, Q FM | Radio | Nation FM relaunched into top-five English brands |
| Daily Monitor (Monitor Publications) | Newspaper (Uganda) | Regional subsidiary |
Signals
A transition, not a collapse. The headline is three years of losses, but the structure tells a more hopeful story. Digital and broadcasting revenues each rose 5%, and management reports the digital platforms reaching an audience base in the tens of millions. The drag is print: inflation, currency volatility and falling circulation continue to erode the traditional newspaper business that still anchors group revenue. The strategy, branded “North Star,” is an explicit print-to-digital pivot, and 2025 is a year in which the new engines grew while the old one shrank faster.
Costs are the immediate problem. The operating loss widened sharply, from Shs 458.7 million to Shs 695.7 million, even as revenue fell only 3%. Administrative and other expenses remained heavy relative to a shrinking top line, and the group’s gross margin, though healthy at 68%, could not absorb the fixed-cost base. The improvement at the comprehensive-loss level (narrowing to Shs 259.7 million) came largely from favourable currency translation and a return to profit at its associate, not from operations, a reminder that the underlying trading position weakened in 2025.
The balance sheet still provides a buffer. Unlike heavily indebted legacy publishers elsewhere, NMG carries no significant borrowings, holds Shs 1.33 billion in cash and Shs 663 million in short-term investments, and retains equity of Shs 7.04 billion. This financial cushion is what makes the transformation viable: the group can fund losses through a multi-year pivot without the existential pressure facing more leveraged peers. But with no dividend declared for a second year and losses persisting, that buffer is finite, and the clock is running.
Independent journalism as the core proposition. NMG’s reporting positions independent, public-interest journalism as central to its identity and value, distinguishing it in a region where media often sits close to political or commercial power. Its 2025 expansion of the Business Daily footprint into Tanzania and Uganda, and the integrated multi-platform broadcast push, are bets that credible regional journalism can be a sustainable business. The financial signal is cautionary but not bleak: the journalism is growing audiences and digital revenue; the challenge is converting that reach into profit before the print decline outruns it.