MEDIA conglomerate, RJR Group effectively made a $310 million investment in cable subsidiaries RE-TV and JNN during the financial year which hiked its stake three times over but led the group to record its first loss in three years.

Concurrently RJR revealed that its $83.5 million investment to secure exclusive broadcast rights to FIFA football events up to 2022 is balanced by the poor performance of the national footballers or ReggaeBoyz.

Essentially RE-TV and JNN owed amounts to RJR reflected in its receivables which were converted into an investment, the financials stated.

“During the year a decision was taken to convert the amount receivable from Reggae Entertainment Television Ltd and Jamaica News Network to an investment in these entities,” stated financial note 21 signed by board members, chairman Lester Spaulding and managing director Gary Allen.

The move increased investments in RE-TV and JNN to $174 million and $236.9 million respectively, up from $68.9 million and $32.4 million a year prior.

But the conversion resulted in the group writing-off $35 million which resulted in the group recording a $36 million net loss for its year ending 2013.

“Combined the cable companies are now profitable and the parent company through its debt-forgiveness seeks to accelerate their expansion especially in overseas markets,” indicated Allen in his statement accompanying financials.

The investment in subsidiaries jumped to $431.9 million up from $121.5 million a year earlier. It’s the first major adjustment in the investment in subsidiaries since at least 2009, based on Jamaica Observer checks.

Allen indicated that the cable subsidiaries performed better with increased efficiency during the financial year ending March 2013.

“One of our proudest achievements is the progress made by our cable brands’ Jamaica News Network and Reggae Entertainment Television. They successfully maintained focus on cost control coupled with maximising resources, replacing outsourced media services at more competitive rates and adding some specialised content to the group’s programming,” indicated the Allen in his statement. “RE-TV started playing a significant role as the group’s global social TV brand and vehicle. It represents an extension of the RJR Group’s 62 year legacy of providing authentic Jamaican content to its listeners and viewers across the world.”

Overall the group’s revenues totaled $1.78 billion declining by 2.45 per cent over the prior year. Direct expenses went up 11 per cent due mainly to the US dollar investment in World Cup Football Qualifiers, it added.

“Historically this has proven to be a sound investment for which there was growing market support, but the costs escalated in Jamaican dollars with the depreciation of the currency and the decline of sponsorship which faded as the Reggae Boyz performed poorly,” stated Allen in his statement.

RJR secured the rights to broadcast the FIFA Events which includes Russia World Cup in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 for some $83.5 million combined.

The group’s subsidiaries include Television Jamaica Limited, Multi-Media Jamaica Ltd, Media Plus Ltd, Reggae Entertainment Television Ltd and Jamaica News Network Ltd. The group is organised and managed into two main business segments including its audio-visual and radio segments. Audio-visual recorded a $6.3 million operating loss on $1.2 billion in revenues whilst the radio segment earned a $57.4 million operating loss on $692.1 million in revenues.

The loss, however, hides the reality of a growing cash and equivalents balance at the group at $316 million from $260 million a year earlier.

The group last recorded a loss back in 2009 at $139.9 million followed by three years of profit which ended this financial year. During that year its investment in RE-TV and JNN stood at $68.9 and $32.4 million respectively.