CFO of the Year: NZME’s David Mackrell wins prestigious award

NZME chief financial officer David Mackrell, pictured after winning CFO of the Year. Photo / Supplied

NZME’s David Mackrell has been named chief financial officer of the year at the prestigious Brightstar summit held in Auckland tonight.

Mackrell was appointed CFO of NZME in March 2019 and has led the company’s finance, technology and strategy functions through an unprecedented time in media, dealing with the Covid pandemic, its aftermath and the recent economic downturn.

The award, sponsored by SG Fleet, recognises a CFO’s strategic vision within the company and also generally for people and the planet.

“They will be able to show innovation and key successes achieved over recent times as well as a strong vision for the future, describing how this can drive positive outcomes with the company’s overall business strategy,” the award criteria said.

NZME chief executive Michael Boggs said Mackrell was a deserved winner of CFO of the Year.

“David is a visionary CFO who has worked extremely hard in leading the development of our digital transformation strategy and driving its execution, which has seen us succeed as a top performer in our industry.

“He’s been a great supporter to me personally, and to our board too, and I’m looking forward to celebrating him tonight.”

Mackrell moved to NZME from Heartland Bank, having started his professional career at Ernst & Young (EY) as an auditor before joining Air New Zealand in 1992.

His career at Air New Zealand spanned 25 years and included a variety of senior financial and commercial roles, finishing with the company as deputy CFO.

NZME, publisher of the Herald, last week posted earnings of $21.4 million and an after-tax profit of $1.9m for the first half of its financial year - and revealed it had implemented a $6m savings plan in the second half to ensure it stays within forecast earnings.

The company - also owner of Newstalk ZB, BusinessDesk, a suite of entertainment radio stations and property website OneRoof – recorded revenue of $171m for the six months to June 30, $5m more than the same period in 2023.

That revenue growth, in a challenged media market and economy, was described by Boggs as “phenomenal”.

NZME’s net earnings of $21.4m was up on the $21.3m in 2023. Its after-tax profit of $1.9m was also relatively stable - the company delivered a profit of $2m in the first half of 2023.

The company said it had delivered growth in advertising revenue of 4% in the first quarter of the year, but this slowed in the second quarter to 2%. The current quarter was tracking to 1% growth year on year.