Former treasurer Peter Costello to chair Nine board, as half yearly profit falls 5.1%
Nine Entertainment’s half-yearly net profit after tax has fallen from $88.8m last year to $78.4m as the company today announced a shake-up of the Board with chairman David Haslingden being replaced by board member and former treasurer Peter Costello.
When the sale of Nine Live is accounted for, the decline in profit represents a 5.1% decline.
For a second year in a row, revenues were down, with the company this year reporting a 7.1% decline to $690.3m down from $726.7m while EBITDA was $127.9m down 7.1% from $135m last year, when adjusted post-sale.
Within Nine’s divisions television revenues fell $34.8m (a fall of 5%) with its earnings falling $11.4m, or 9%. Digital revenues decreased $1.7m, or 2%, but earnings were up $1.4m or 13.
Source: Nine’s half yearly report.
According to the half-yearly results the post-tax profit from the sale of Nine Live was $289.3m from the $640m sale with much of the funds used to pay down debt.
Nine also included a $33.3m write down of its regional TV business NBN and a $9.4m write down due mainly to the conclusion of its Daily Mail joint venture.
Nine CEO Hugh Marks said in a statement: “I am pleased to report a solid result in what has been a challenging advertising market. Competition from both within and outside the sector kept pressure on our revenues.
“However, our stringent cost focus has resulted in a group-wide cost decline of 5% for the period, mitigating much of the revenue impact.”
Nine has also announced another share buy-back and will have an 8 cent dividend for the period.
Nic Christensen
Smart move to bring Costello in just in time for the Liberals to enact new media ownership rules..!
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Indeed.
It’s tough to be in the TV business. And unlike any other media business the government must step in and give some relief. For example, those pesky licence fees should be abolished. That would grant us an instant monopoly and opportunity for all sorts of balance sheet shenanigans which is (of course) in the interest in shareholders.
TV Networks are not rent seekers. They are essential part of the communications landscape. Plus we need those licencing fees abolished in order to invest in “multicasting”.
Sorry. I thought is was 1999 and I needed to argue why the taxpayers had to give the network three digital channels. As taxpayers we had to protect them from the evils of the internet and provide them with a multicasting licence.
The more tings change, the more they stay the same.
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Unemployed ex pollies steps aboard sinking ship. CEO shifts deck chairs to make room for upholstered Lounge. Hopes of publicly funded lifeboat puff like clouds on the horizon. Hooray!
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It’s like a highly calibrated Formula One Car now, #GetThis
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I have said it before. NINE is too fat. It needs serious trimming. Gyngell was a great guy – but not good at keeping costs under control….
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The problem with Nine, Seven and TEN, is that they have cannibalized themselves. More channels, more content & more choice simply drives your primary audience down…..so rates have to follow.
But now, with also, effectively, TRIPLE the inventory, they still cannot hold the revenue line.
Really the sales departments should give themselves an uppercut and start packaging and reinventing the selling wheel to drive the agenda and put TV back in its rightful place.
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An incredibly fat business with a sales and business mentality from the 1980’s. Executive producers are channeling newspapers editors of old with boring inflexibility that no one has patience for. Innovate or die.
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