TV Azteca reported a 14% increase in its revenues in the first quarter of the year, which reached 2,915 million pesos, while it continues to fight in a legal dispute with the Tax Administration System that has resulted in an order for it to pay 2,447 millions of pesos.
According to the company’s financial report, the increase in income was due to more advertising, as well as the sale of more company content outside of Mexico and more income from TV Azteca Guatemala and TV Azteca Honduras.
Despite the fact that the television station had a better financial performance during the first three months of the year, compared to 2021, the company controlled by billionaire Ricardo Salinas has not yet managed to recover the sales it had before the pandemic.
Rafael Rodríguez, general director of TV Azteca, explained in the results report sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange that in order to return to the income levels of 2019, the company will seek in the coming months to boost the production and acquisition of content, as well as invest in maintenance, equipment and hire more staff.
Between January and March of this year, the television station reported a net profit of 85 million pesos, after having registered a net loss of 281 million pesos in the same period of the previous year.
The operating flow (EBITDA, for its acronym in English) amounted to 678 million pesos, an increase of 16% compared to what was reported in the same period last year, thanks to lower financial expenses and a favorable exchange rate for the company.
Battle with the SAT
In recent days, the Federal Tax and Administrative Justice Court (TFJA) ruled that TV Azteca must pay the tax authorities 2,447 million pesos for Income Tax (ISR), fines and surcharges. However, the Salinas Pliego companies assured that they will seek to challenge the resolution.
The TFJA ruling asserts that the company improperly calculated profit or loss from the sale of shares.
“We will continue to exercise our right to defend ourselves against what we consider to be erroneous and excessive charges,” Grupo Salinas, a conglomerate that includes telecoms company Totalplay and Grupo Elektra, with retail and banking operations, said in a statement.
The head of the SAT, Raquel Buenrostro, said in a press conference in mid-April that the institution had no plans to seize Salinas’ assets.
With information from Reuters
