Fairfax posts $16m loss

FAIRFAX Media lost more than $16m last financial year amid lower earnings and asset writedowns.

Fairfax

FAIRFAX Media made a more than $16 million loss last financial year amid lower earnings and further asset writedowns.

The company made a net loss of $16.4 million for 2012/13, a marked improvement on the $2.7 billion loss the company posted in 2011/12.

Excluding significant items, Fairfax made a profit of $143 million, down 37 per cent from $212 million last year.

Revenue was down eight per cent to $2.03 billion, while earnings were $366 million, down 28 per cent on last year.

Fairfax chief executive Greg Hywood said conditions in the media sector remained difficult and the company was working to rein in costs and grow its digital business.

"We're responding to difficult conditions by transforming our operations, evolving the way we engage with customers and audiences, and developing a range of new revenue opportunities adjacent to our core business," he said.

The 2012/13 result was affected by a $400 million writedown of Fairfax's regional, printing and agricultural business.

But Mr Hywood said the company had attracted 68,000 paid digital subscribers to its core mastheads The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, along with 98,000 bundled print and digital subscribers.

But total earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from the company's metro media division were down more than 27 per cent to $59 million.

Earnings from its Domain real estate business were down seven per cent to $41.5 million as losses from its print division offset growth in its digital business.

Meanwhile, Fairfax's Financial Review group saw its earnings decline 25 per cent to $4.5 million.

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