KEY POINTS:
The board of APN News and Media - publisher of the New Zealand Herald - has appointed Gavin O'Reilly as non-executive chairman.
O'Reilly replaces James Parkinson who has been a member of the board since 1999 and has retired ending six years as chairman.
Gavin and brother Cameron O'Reilly - who was re-elected to the APN board - are sons of Independent News and Media (INM) chief executive Sir Anthony O'Reilly.
Since 2001 Gavin O'Reilly has been the group chief operating officer of INM which holds a 40 per cent stake in APN. He has been a member of the APN board since 2004.
At the company's annual meeting yesterday, New Zealand-based APN director John Maasland was re-elected to the board. Director Sir Wilson Whineray has retired after six years on the board.
Speaking at the meeting, Parkinson said revenues and profits were ahead of the previous year despite what he described as "challenging market conditions".
Assuming such conditions did not deteriorate, the board expected APN's media assets to again perform satisfactorily in 2008.
APN made a net profit of $167.4 million in 2007, up 5 per cent on the previous year.
