‘Disappointing result’ for Ten as EBITDA plunges by 45.5%, redundancies to follow

Ten has released a “disappointing” set of full year financial results that saw operating revenue fall by 13.5% and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization slide by 45.5%.

Boss James Warburton, who is ten months into his tenure as chief executive, pointed to Ten’s early-evening schedule performance and growth for digital channel One as highlights for its TV interests in an otherwise gloomy period for the company.

Warburton also said, in an email to staff, that there would be “painful, but unavoidable” redundancies at the network as a result of the company’s performance and tough market conditions.

“Undoubtedly we are operating in challenging market and competitive conditions, which have impacted our revenue performance. We have responded and secured significant cost savings in the year. We are now undertaking a Strategic, Operating and News Review to further reduce costs.

“We have also reduced our debt as a result of a successful capital raising. Many of our core programs have performed well, underpinning our confidence that our performance can be improved.”

Ten was yesterday hit by the news that the sale of its out of home division Eye Corp had hit the rocks, although discussions with the potential buyer, Outdoor Media Operations, are ongoing.

In an email to staff warning of redundancies to come, Warburton said:

As part of the Strategic, Operating and News Review, we are today starting a proposed voluntary redundancy program in News and Operations. Anthony Flannery will discuss that program in more detail at a meeting of News and Operations staff at 11am.

I don’t like seeing job losses, but unfortunately they are necessary. I know that the next weeks and months will be a difficult period, as colleagues leave the business. It is my duty and responsibility to ensure this process happens in an orderly and respectful fashion, and with dignity for the departing staff. The discussions with News and Operations staff are only starting today, so it is premature to pre-empt the outcome of those discussions. Your managers and our HR department will be working closely with staff over the next few weeks.

Some very hard decisions have been made in recent months, leading up to today’s announcement. And more hard decisions will have to be made over the next few weeks and months.

For those of you who leave us as a result of this review, let me offer my sincere thanks for your contribution to Ten. Your commitment and work has been appreciated and we wish you well.

This is a difficult time for everyone at Ten. The environment in which we operate is very challenging and we need to act accordingly.