Media group APN reports net profit of €36m

Australian media group, APN — in which Independent News & Media (INM) holds a 30.4% stake — has reported a net profit of Aus$45.1m (€36m) for 2011.

Exceptional charges of Aus$159m (€128m), relating to the restructuring of the Sydney-headquartered business, dragged the group into the red, after it had reported a net profit of nearly Aus$94m in 2010.

Excluding exceptionals, the group delivered a net profit of Aus$78.2m, down from a figure of just over Aus$103.1m in 2010. APN chief executive Brett Chenoweth noted the group had delivered on its previously stated commitments and had met its guidance for the year, before exceptionals.

“In challenging market conditions — including the impact of natural disasters — we grew revenue by 3%, in local currency terms. This emphasises the resilience of our assets and the product innovations that we’ve introduced,” he added.

“We promised a cost reduction programme in publishing, to deliver annualised savings of Aus$15m and we have achieved savings of more than Aus$25m on an annualised basis. And there will be more to come. More broadly, major advances have been made in operational efficiencies and cost management across the entire group. These will be fundamental to APN’s ongoing success.”

On an operational basis, APN said that the advertising markets in both Australia and New Zealand remain “mixed“, but “resilient” performances were evident in its Australian outdoor advertising and radio businesses; while the New Zealand division remains down, on a year-on-year basis, largely due to the impact of the Christchurch earthquake.

On an overall group level, management said trading in the second half of the year showed a “marked improvement” on the first six months of 2011.