Independent News forecasts growth

Independent News and Media Plc, the Dublin-based company that owns the New Zealand Herald among other assets, is forecasting double-digit annual growth in earnings per share over the next five years.

The growth will be spurred, in part, by a recovery in the New Zealand economy, Independent News' finance director James Parkinson said yesterday.

The company's New Zealand operations struggled last year due to the short-term economic recession, but the strength of the company's media assets was undiminished, Mr Parkinson told a meeting of investors in Wilson & Horton Holdings, the group's New Zealand subsidiary.

Mr Parkinson said last year's recession had galvanised the local management team into carrying out a wide-ranging restructuring under the stewardship of its new chief executive John Sanders. That rejig had included cutting more than 200 jobs from the company's local payroll.

"The New Zealand staff cuts will impact positively on profitability in the second half of the year," Mr Parkinson said.

"Our aim is to be the number one portal for news, information and advertising."