Fairfax Media’s Domain Holdings has engaged in a little house cleaning in first ever independent annual accounts with millions of dollars of write downs which produced a net loss for the year.
The company reported a $6.2 million loss in the 2017-18 financial year, down sharply from the $23.5 million net profit it posted in the prior year.
Domain’s loss was after a write-down of $29.6 million, predominantly related to its print and transactions segments. The news comes ahead of Fairfax Media’s full year figures tomorrow.
Print revenue fell nearly 13%, due to ongoing structural shifts to digital advertising. Its print business includes Domain’s magazines, and listings published in newspapers like The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review.
Print EBITDA declined 3.4% for the year,” chairman Nick Falloon said. “Cost initiatives contributed to a 15% reduction in expenses year-on-year, supporting EBITDA growth in the second half. There is a continued focus on cost efficiencies relating to print and distribution.”
On top of these losses, there were $4.6 million worth of restructuring and redundancy costs.
“The statutory result is not representative of the underlying performance of the business,” the company said.
Domain posted an underlying net profit of $52.9 million, up 7.7% with the one off items are excluded.
It will pay a final dividend of 4 cents per share, 70% franked. That took the total for the year to 8 cents a share.
With a 60% shareholding, Fairfax Media gets $27.8 million of the total payout of $46.43 million
Domain shares rose 3.7% to $3.31 yesterday in a market that was in the red all day.
