Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ), a media conglomerate, released its 2018 financial results to the market today revealing a 3.5% fall in revenue which has seen the share price fall 3.3%.
Fairfax has a majority stake of Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX: DHG). It also operates The Australian Financial Review, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and other media assets.
Here are some of the highlights from Fairfax’s report:
- Revenue fell by 3.1% to $1.688 billion
- A loss of $63.8 million was posted
- EBITDA up 1.2% to $274.2 million (click here to learn what EBITDA means)
- Underlying net profit down 12.4% to $124.9 million
- Total FY18 dividends of 2.9 cents, down from 4 cents last year
According to Bloomberg, analysts were expecting Fairfax to report a profit of $121.3 million. A dividend of 2.6 cents was also expected. With the reported result below estimates, investors appear to have been disappointed by the company’s performance.
The big news for Fairfax over the past few months is that it wants to merge with Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX: NEC), which we covered here.
Fairfax’s CEO and Managing Director, Greg Hywood, was positive about the result:
“Over the past seven years, we have taken the big decisions. We have built businesses such as Domain and Stan. We have maximised the growth drivers of our core assets. We have addressed legacy cost issues to give our usiness time to adjust to the structural change it confronted.”
Outlook
In the first six weeks of FY19 Fairfax reported that revenue was around 5% lower than last year.
Fairfax shares were trading 3% lower on Wednesday, according to Google Finance.
Introducing The Australian Investors Podcast
Join The Rask Group’s founder, Owen Raszkiewicz, as he profiles Australia’s best investors, founders, authors and financial thinkers. Download it free on iTunes, Castbox, SoundCloud or wherever you choose to listen.
