Thank you. While revenue continues to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, operating performance has improved significantly in the first half of fiscal year 2022 as group revenue increased 14.5% over the prior comparable period. This revenue increase led to an increase in Adjusted EBITDA of 43%, with all four of our operating segments being EBITDA positive for the half year period. Australia, our largest and most profitable market, posted a 24% increase in revenue, far outperforming the broader Australian radio market. We are hopeful that recently lifted restrictions will lead to continued momentum and increased revenue from certain categories, but especially from tourism and travel. The return of a more normal business environment in Australia should bode well for our prospects in this market.
Our Canadian business performance was softer than other markets as revenue decreased 4% in local currency, less than 1% in AUD. While this country was hit very hard with long-lasting restrictions and limitations, we believe that Canada will soon start a comeback towards normality, as most of these restrictions have now been lifted. We continue to have a strong network of radio stations and expect that market conditions continue to improve. There will be increased opportunities to grow revenue here. Our United Kingdom segment posted a solid revenue performance, with revenue increasing 4% in local currency, 7% in AUD. Given the mature nature of our U.K. business, we are very pleased with these results. Our Brazil business was our fastest growing business, with revenue increasing 39% in local currency, 37% in AUD.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Brazil was our fastest growing market and appears to be poised to resume that position again. Our strategy to deal with the current difficult environment and put the company in a position to take advantage of stronger markets in the future is to protect and maintain our two most valuable assets, our unparalleled affiliate networks and talented sales and management teams. This strategy has allowed us to be prepared to take advantage of the improving business conditions, which led to the 14.5% increase in revenue for the period. In order to protect these valuable assets and allow us to weather the pandemic-related downturn, we have focused on conserving cash and reducing debt. At December 31, 2021, our cash balance was AUD 32.5 million, and our net debt was only AUD 7.3 million.
We have repaid AUD 23 million of bank debt since 1 January 2021, reducing the group's outstanding bank debt from AUD 60 million to AUD 37 million. I'll now turn the call over to Scott for a complete review of the financials.
Thanks, Bill, and good morning, everyone. Revenue for the half year ended 31 December 2021 increased 14.5% to AUD 81 million, an increase of AUD 10.2 million. Revenue in all of our operating regions except Canada increased when compared to the previous fiscal year. When compared to fiscal 2021, Australia revenue increased 24%, Brazil revenue increased 37%, U.K. revenue increased 7%, while Canada revenue decreased less than 1%. Revenue from Canada and the United Kingdom was positively impacted by foreign currency movements, while Brazil was negatively impacted. When measured in local currencies, Brazil revenue increased 39%, United Kingdom revenue increased 4%, and Canada revenue decreased 4% compared to the previous fiscal half year.
Adjusted EBITDA, which we define as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, adjusted to include the non-cash interest income generated by the financing component of our long-term station affiliation agreement with Southern Cross Austereo and excluding transaction costs, foreign exchange gains and losses, refinancing losses, and gains on lease forgiveness, was AUD 10.2 million, an increase of 43% compared to FY 2021. We consider it appropriate to add the financing component of our long-term station affiliation agreement with Southern Cross Austereo to EBITDA because EBITDA includes a large portion of non-cash station compensation expense related to the agreement. By including both amounts in Adjusted EBITDA, we believe it provides a clearer view of the financial impact of the agreement.
The increase in Adjusted EBITDA was due to the increase in revenue during the period as operating expenses increased AUD 7.1 million or 11% compared to the half-year period ended 31 December 2020. Some of the main components of the increase was a AUD 2.3 million increase in station compensation, AUD 2.1 million increase in sales expenses, and a AUD 1.2 million decrease in JobKeeper and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, which is treated as a decrease in general and administrative expenses. Adjusted NPAT, which is defined as net profit after tax, adjusted to add back the tax-affected non-cash amortization expense related to acquired intangible assets, increased 89% to AUD 5 million. The primary driver of the increase was the revenue-related increase in EBITDA that was previously discussed.
Lower financing costs, primarily related to the lower outstanding debt during the period and lower depreciation expense also contributed to the increase in Adjusted NPAT. Upon delivery of the 31 December 2021 compliance certificate in February 2022, the additional restrictions to the group's bank debt facility expired. Prior to the expiration, the company was prohibited from making distributions to shareholders, including dividends and share buybacks. Our ability to make distributions has now reverted to the previous limitation of 100% of Adjusted NPAT. However, consistent with our desire to conserve cash and reduce debt due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, the board has not declared a final dividend for FY 2021, nor an interim dividend for FY 2022. I will now turn the call back to Bill for an update on the second half fiscal 2022.
This is the operator. It seems we've lost Mr. Yde's line. I'll just see if we can reconnect. One moment. Thanks.
Okay, thank you. Sorry about that. We're having technical difficulties, but I'll take over for what Bill was gonna say. Hopefully he'll be able to get back in for the Q&A. Third fiscal quarter FY 2022 revenues to date has been higher than the results of 3Q FY 2021, but not grown as much as first half fiscal 2022. Revenue for January 2022 increased 5%, and we expect February 2022 revenue to exceed that of February 2021. Due to the short-term nature of the majority of our ad sales, and that a large portion of our revenue is booked either just prior to or during the month the advertisements are aired, we're unable to provide guidance as to future performance beyond February 2022.
Future results are likely to remain highly dependent on COVID-19 impact on the markets in which we operate. All four of our markets continue to be positioned to perform well with solid affiliate lineups, strong sales staffs, and virtually no direct competitors. While the COVID-19 pandemic has had a material negative impact on our operations and results, we have rebounded well from the low point of the pandemic, as revenue has increased AUD 27.8 million, 30%, for the nine-month period from 1 April 2021 to 31 December 2021. Over 60% of the incremental revenue increase has been converted to Adjusted EBITDA, which has increased AUD 17.1 million over the nine-month period. We have a strong balance sheet with ample liquidity and believe that we will perform well as the markets improve. This ends our prepared remarks. We will now open the lines to questions.
I'm back now, Scott. Sorry.
Awesome.
Phone cut out on me for a while, so I appreciate you finishing my prepared remarks for me.
Well, hopefully I did it, you know, justice.
It was a stellar job. We're open for questions.
Thank you very much. If you do wish to ask a question, please press the star key then one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press the star key then two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. We will pause for a moment for participants to register. Thank you. Your first question is from Daniel Toleman from Petra Capital. Go ahead. Thank you.
Hi, Bill and Scott. Congratulations on the result. Looks like a really strong performance. Just had a question on the outlook statement. Can you just provide a little more color as to where that revenue is coming from? Is that the Australian business? Are you seeing continued momentum from Brazil? How's Canada tracking? Yeah, just a little more color around that. Thank you.
Yeah. Look, I would say it's, you know, we're just barely into the first part of the year. January is always a weak month, so difficult to make anything to read about. If you look at where we're tracking for the whole six-month period going forward, we believe the trends are positive. January and February are slightly up, but that's virtually all we can tell you right now. And it's pretty much in all markets.
Let me see. Canada had a very extraordinarily strong January, which was nice given they were the laggard in the first six months. Although their comp was, you know, so low that I had to double-check that the number was right.
Okay. Thanks for that. Just with the Brazil business, it looks to be rebounding quite strongly. Were there any particular reasons that you're seeing th-
Mm-hmm.
Why that's occurring? Or, is that just the general market coming back?
It's primarily the general market coming back. If you go back to pre-pandemic, they had set record revenue levels nine consecutive months in a row and were really doing quite well. We were able to maintain most of the sales staff through the pandemic. You know, we didn't cut anybody or we didn't cut commissions or anything like that. We felt like they'd, if we could maintain the sales staff, they'd bounce back quickly when the revenue came back, and it's proven to be true.
Okay, great. Thanks.
Thank you. Your next question is from Mike Younger from Prime Value. Go ahead. Thank you.
Oh, thanks very much. First question is just around, I guess the performance of the company versus the broader radio market in Australia. Your guidance would seem to be sort of broadly in line, maybe slightly stronger than what industry is showing. Is there any particular reason to expect why revenue should perform much differently to the broader radio market in the year ahead?
Well, I would say that's largely based on, you know, right now it looks like we're easing restrictions and we're not restricting things. We would expect to be at or above the broader radio market correction in the environment in that, given the types of accounts, the auto, the travel, and tourism and all that kind of stuff that have completely gone away, those are very-