CanWest group revenue up 2 per cent for year

CanWest MediaWorks (NZ) Ltd today announced group revenue for the year to August 31 up 2 per cent to $254.3 million.

Group ebitda (earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortisation) was $65.7 million, down from the previous year's record result of $67.3 million.

A fully imputed final dividend of 3.9 cents per share is to be paid, taking the annual dividend to 8.4 cents per share - a 33 per cent increase on the previous year's 6.3 cents per share.

CanWest MediaWorks' chairman Tom Strike said 2006 was a somewhat challenging financial year for the company - owner of the TV3 and C4 television networks, and several national radio brands including The Edge and Radio Live.

The company said trading for the first quarter of the new financial year, starting September 1, was encouraging with group revenue forecast to be slightly ahead of the comparable period last year.

Conditions for the remainder of the financial year remained somewhat uncertain, but the company was heartened by the encouraging signals in the first quarter's trading.

Net profit after tax fell 13 per cent to $24.7 million from $28.3 million.

CanWest said the increased dividend for 2006 had been possible due to a lower level of operational capital expenditure and continued tight controls on working capital.

Mr Strike said the past financial year was an important period of consolidation for the company, having launched a number of new initiatives, such as TV3's Campbell Live and the Radio Live network, in 2005.

TVWorks had a solid year, despite challenging advertising market conditions, the company said.

TVWorks' revenue rose 1 per cent to $143.6 million, while ebitda was $35.7 million from $36.65 million last year.

CanWest MediaWorks' ceo Brent Impey said the year for TV3 was "brilliant", in a highly competitive television landscape.

TV3's audience share was up, not only in its target audience of 18 to 49-year-olds, but also among other important demographics such as 25 to 54-year-olds, Mr Impey said.

During the financial year, 3 News' share of audience in the target 18 to 49-year-old demographic rose 22 per cent from the previous year to a 34 per cent share.

In the important advertiser demographic of household shoppers with children aged 0 to 14-years-old its share of audience was up 37 per cent, from 28 per cent in 2005 to 39 per cent in the 2006 financial year, Mr Impey said.

In December, TV3 secured the exclusive New Zealand television rights to the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, which would be a significant event for the channel.

Youth channel C4 had seen its target audience of 15 to 29-year-olds grow from a 3.6 per cent share in the 2005 financial year to 4.5 per cent.

The first stage in TVWorks preparing for the digital future happened during the course of the financial year, with the signing of an agreement with broadcast technology firm BCL to sublease satellite capacity on the new Optus D1 satellite.

RadioWorks' revenue was up 3 per cent to $110.7 million, and ebitda was $33.2 million from the previous year's $33.8 million.

Two acquisitions completed during the course of the financial year --- Queenstown's Q92FM and Orewa's Times FM - were considered key by Mr Impey.

"Both of these stations are in areas which have seen significant population growth, and are strategically important to the company," Mr Impey said.

"Launching our top-rated easy-listening station The Breeze into Auckland has been another important radio development this year. Targeting 40 to 59-year-old women, The Breeze is a brand which already performs strongly for us in seven other markets nationally, and its entry into Auckland complements our audience strategy in this important market," Mr Impey said.

The Edge had achieved the excellent position of the most listeners for any music network in this country, with about 400,000 listeners a week.

A more streamlined management structure for RadioWorks had evolved during 2006, which would make our radio operations more efficient and effective, Mr Impey said.

On Friday Canadian-based majority owner CanWest Global Communications Corp announced it had retained Citigroup Global Markets to explore opportunities arising out of new Australian media ownership laws.

The new media law, which removed media-industry specific foreign ownership restrictions and significantly relaxed cross-ownership rules affecting broadcasting and publishing media, was widely expected to precipitate a substantial re-alignment of media ownership in Australia, CanWest Global said.

Citigroup would examine a range of possible scenarios that might affect CanWest MediaWorks (NZ) Ltd - 70 per cent owned by CanWest Global.

Also possibly affected could be CanWest's 56.4 per cent economic interest in Network TEN, one of Australia's three major television networks, and Eye Corp, TEN's wholly owned out-of-home advertising subsidiary.

CanWest MediaWorks shares opened up 3c to $1.66 on the New Zealand sharemarket today, having ranged between $1.98 and $1.23 in the past year.

- NZPA