CanWest profit up 47pc for half year

By SIMON HENDERY, media industry writer

Broadcaster CanWest has reported a 47 per cent increase in half-year operating profit for its local television and radio businesses as the company goes through what it calls "a sustained period of growth".

The owner of the 3 and C4 television networks and about half the country's radio stations said yesterday its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) were $34 million for the six months to February 29, up from $23 million for the same period last year.

Revenue during the period grew 10 per cent from $105 million to $116 million.

Television ebitda rose 71 per cent to $16 million while the radio side of the business - which includes MoreFM, The Breeze, Solid Gold, Radio Pacific, The Rock and The Edge - increased ebitda by 30 per cent to $18 million.

CanWest New Zealand chief executive Brent Impey attributed the strong result to good management across the group and the strong economy, saying the business was "enjoying a sustained period of growth".

"Our ad bookings going forward across both media continue to be solid," Impey said.

Youth-focused television music channel C4, launched from the ashes of loss-making TV4 late last year, was one of the company's real success stories, he said.

At this time last year, TV4 reported a $3.4 million loss. By comparison, C4 was "at a break-even point" half-way through the current financial year, surpassing CanWest's expectations and continuing to perform well, Impey said.

Impey said ongoing rumours of an impending float of the New Zealand business were "just speculation", a stance also taken by the international media company's Canada-based president and chief executive, Leonard Asper, when he announced CanWest Global's quarterly result yesterday. CanWest Global has in the past shown a pubic interest in quitting the New Zealand business, but yesterday it appeared to have gone off the idea, talking up the benefits of being geographically diversified.

"Results for the second quarter demonstrate the value of CanWest's diversification strategy and particularly our holdings in Australia and New Zealand broadcasting assets, which offset the disappointing results from Canadian conventional television," Asper said.

Group-wide, the company posted a second-quarter loss of C$211.3 million, which included a $39 million write-down of its loss-making Fireworks television and film library.

The group's biggest business, its Canadian newspapers, reported a 14 per cent increase in ebitda.