Pre-tax profits at Independent News & Media's Australian and New Zealand business grew by 28 per cent last year on the back of good performances in its newspaper and radio divisions.
APN News & Media, the Australian-listed company in which Independent, whose chairman is Sir Anthony O'Reilly, has a 40.7 per cent stake, reported yesterday that sales in the 12 months to December 31st, 2003, grew by 9 per cent to €642.7 million.
Profits before tax grew by 28 per cent to €98.2 million from €78 million in 2002. The group posted a 15 per cent rise in net profit to €60 million. Earnings per share grew 10 per cent to 13.2 cents.
APN publishes the New Zealand Herald, that country's largest daily, and is the biggest operator of regional newspapers, radio stations and outdoor advertising in Australasia.
The group's newspaper business drove much of the growth during the year, with trading profits growing 23 per cent to €97.5 million. Radio also performed strongly, showing a 13 per cent expansion to €32.4 million.
Profits at its outdoor advertising business were flat at €9.5 million. The group restructured that division last year and yesterday presented it as a standalone business, APN Outdoor, with Mr Richard Herring as chief executive.
It also completed a refinancing operation last year, in which it placed 28 million shares with institutional investors.
Independent did not subscribe to the issue and saw its holding diluted from 43 per cent to 40.7 per cent. The exercise cut its net debt by 20 per cent to €475 million.
The group's strong performance prompted NCB analyst Mr Shane Matthews to rate Independent as a buy - NCB is one of Independent's brokers.
Mr Matthews said that APN's strong performance overtook NCB's forecasts for both revenue and operating profits.
Commenting on the results, APN chief executive Mr Brendan Hopkins said they demonstrated the strength of its core businesses.
"Trading in 2004 has once again started positively and, given a continuation of current trading conditions, the board remains confident of a meaningful improvement in profitability for 2004," Mr Hopkins's statement said yesterday.
