Fairfax Media Group's New Zealand unit, which includes the Dominion Post, Press and Sunday Star Times newspapers, kept its first-half earnings reasonably flat as recent cost-cutting measures offset weaker circulation revenues.
New Zealand earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation slipped 0.8 per cent to $42.3 million in the six months ended Dec. 29 from the same period a year earlier, the Sydney-based parent company said in a statement. Revenue shrank 7.7 per cent to $206.9 million, with a 5.9 per cent decline in advertising sales to $140.5 million and an 8.7 per cent drop in circulation revenue to $59.2 million.
In Australian dollar terms, the New Zealand unit lifted revenue 4.6 per cent to A$182.2 million and EBITDA 10 per cent to A$37.3 million.
"In the New Zealand business, weak retail sales have affected the performance of circulation," the company said in its report. "The advertising market remained stable, (local) government elections and the auto and property markets boosted the results against softer categories. Savings in staff expenses offset the decline in revenue."
The New Zealand unit was the middle of the pack for the wider group, whose Australian metropolitan segment boosted earnings 52 per cent to A$81.5 million on a 9.8 per cent fall in sales to A$428.6 million. The Australian community media unit's earnings dropped 22 per cent to A$82.5 million on an 18 per cent slide in revenue to A$305.5 million, and the radio segment posted a 9.9 per cent decline in EBITDA to A$9.2 million on a 1.1 per cent decrease in sales to A$54.5 million.