Seven West Media posts $444.5m full year net loss

Seven West Media says it will be “a hunter” in the M&A market as it posts a $444.5m net loss.

Seven West media chairman Kerry Stokes (left) and new Seven CEO James Warburton. Picture: Nikki Short

Seven West Media has swung to a net loss of $444.5 million, hurt by the writedown of its television licence and newspaper masthead.

New boss James Warburton vowing to turn around the business and pursue M&A opportunities.

“We will be a hunter and explore M&A opportunities in both traditional media and nontraditional adjacencies that are positive for our shareholders,” Mr Warburton said.

Mr Warburton, who took the reins on Friday following the departure of Tim Worner, said a tough year in the economy had been reflected in advertising markets, which had hurt Seven’s performance.

Seven, which is controlled by billionaire Kerry Stokes, is focused on revitalising the group’s entertainment programming, a move aimed at ensuring it is the “most relevant and exciting offer to advertisers”, Mr Warburton said.

“We will be a hunter and explore M&A opportunities.”

“We will sharpen our focus on being a high-performance audience and sales led organisation, and we will redefine our working practices, becoming more efficient and effective and making savings which do not impact on ratings.

The annual results come just days after Mr Stokes ended Mr Worner’s six-year tenure as CEO, amid pressure to improve Seven’s financial performance and TV ratings.

Mr Worner, who joined Seven in 1994, handed his resignation to Mr Stokes on Thursday night, and less than 24 hours later was replaced by former Seven executive and Ten Network Mr Warburton.

Departing Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner. Picture: AAP

Along with Seven’s announcement of Mr Warburton’s appointment on Friday, Seven reaffirmed its full year earnings guidance from May.

Seven forecast the metropolitan TV advertising market would decline by “low single digits” in 2020 financial year, with the group targeting underlying earnings before interest and tax of $190 to $200 million, including the impact of new accounting rules.

For the 2019 financial year, Seven posted a 10 per cent drop in underlying EBIT of $212.1m, a figure at the bottom end of its revised guidance of between $210m to $220m, which was issued in May.

Seven has booked significant items totaling $573.7m, predominantly from the impairment of TV licences and print mastheads.

Annual revenue fell 4.2 per cent to $1.55 billion, with operating costs down 3 per cent, or $38 million, to $1.34 billion.

Net debt fell 10 per cent to $564.4m in the 2019 financial year.

Seven hasn’t paid a dividend since February 2018. At that time, the group said it was temporarily suspending its dividend as a “prudent capital management step to retain flexibility post relation in media ownership legislation”.

Seven shares closed at 39c on the ASX on Monday. The stock has dropped 65 per cent over the past 12 months