Seven West Media appears to have put a value of $16.9 million on The Sunday Times newspaper and Perth Now website, as the publisher and broadcaster posted a sharp drop in first-half net profit and dividends, and sought to direct attention away from its ongoing battle with CEO Tim Worner's former lover.
Seven West Media appears to have put a value of $16.9 million on The Sunday Times newspaper and Perth Now website, as the publisher and broadcaster posted a sharp drop in first-half net profit and dividends, and sought to direct attention away from its ongoing battle with CEO Tim Worner's former lover.
Seven booked a 91 per cent drop in net profit to $12.4 million for the six months to December 2016, hurt by a write-down on the value of website Yahoo7, divestments and costs related to the defunct streaming service Presto.
Its interim accounts reveal the group acquired mastheads valued at $16.9 million, with notes to the accounts stating this included The Sunday Times masthead and its digital edition, the Perth Now website.
Seven West Media has not disclosed how much it paid for these assets, which it bought from News Corporation last year.
The accounts also reveal Seven West has acquired 50 per cent shareholdings in two local businesses - public company news provider Bulls N' Bears Holdings and Evolink, trading as Muzz Buzz Express.
Mr Worner kicked off the group's earnings call this morning by saying that he has apologised for his affair with former network employee Amber Harrison and did not want to give "any more oxygen" to the matter.
Mr Worner said he has been "very focused" on his job and Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes, who was also on the call, reiterated that the CEO enjoys the "full confidence of the board".
Seven slashed its interim dividend by 50 per cent to 2 cents a share as operating costs rose 10 per cent to $756.6 million due to its coverage of the Olympics last year in Brazil.
The media group also said it expected full-year underlying earings to be down approximately 20 per cent - softening the outlook from its AGM when it indicated the fall in underlying earings would be at the lower end of a 15 to 20 per cent range.
The results unnerved investors, with the stock falling 7 per cent to 72.5 cents in early morning trade on the Australian stock exchange.
At 9:30am, the stock was down 6.4 per cent at 73 cents.
Seven on Monday secured an interim injunction against Ms Harrison, in a bid to stop her releasing documents, which the broadcaster says are confidential and beyond the scope of her dispute with the company over the terms of her employment ending.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 27.7 per cent to $148.5 million, primarily due to lower earnings contribution from its Seven broadcast operations.
Seven's net profit was hit by significant items before tax totalling $82.6 million relating to the impairment of its investment in Yahoo7, sale of Pacific Magazine's youth titles and Australian News Channel as well as Presto's closing down costs.
Operating costs, excluding major events and third party commissions, fell 3.8 per cent.
