NZME Limited (NZMEF) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

SA Transcripts 161.99K Followers Follow NZME Limited ( NZMEF ) Q2 2026 Earnings Call August 24, 2026 6:00 PM EDT Company Participants Kelly Gunn - General Manager of Communications Michael Boggs - Chief Executive Officer Jo Hempstead - Chief Financial Officer Conference Call Participants James Lindsay Presentation Kelly Gunn General Manager of Communications Good morning, and welcome to New Zealand Media and Entertainment's 2026 Half Year Results Webcast. My name is Kelly Gunn, and I'm the GM of Communications at NZME. I'll be facilitating all questions at the end of today's presentation. Presenting on the call today is Michael Boggs, NZME's Chief Executive Officer; and Jo Hempstead, NZME's Chief Financial Officer. Following the presentation today, we will open the webcast to shareholders and analysts for questions. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand over to our CEO, Michael Boggs. Michael Boggs Chief Executive Officer Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. As Kelly said, I'm joined by our Chief Financial Officer, Jo Hempstead, who will shortly take you through the financial results in detail. I'll begin with the group result, the key developments across the business and the market environment. Following Jo's review, I'll return to cover the performance and the priorities of our Audio business, Publishing and OneRoof, and then I'll conclude with our outlook. The central message you'll hear from us today is that during the first half, NZME has returned to revenue growth and delivered positive operating leverage. This is despite a trading environment that remains challenging. You'll see that audio was the principal growth driver. Disciplined cost management lifted our operating margin and stronger cash generation enabled us to materially reduce debt. At the end, Jo and I will be happy to take your questions. At a group level on Slide 3, the first half result shows growing earnings, improving cash flow and reducing debt. This is