Seven West Media has reported its full year trading figures:
The numbers for year ended 29 June 2019 [2018 in square brackets]
Total revenue $1,557m [$1,622m]
EBITDA $243m [$270m]
EBIT $212m [$235m)
Underlying NPAT $129m [$140m]
Profit (loss) before tax (including significant items) ($433m) [$188m]
The Seven Network has claimed a 13th consecutive year of ratings leadership, and a 40.3% share of commercial free-to-air viewing across the day – up a full percentage point on last year.
Seven was also number one in the key advertising demographic of people aged 25-54 across the day, and grew revenue share across the period.
Channel 7 and 7mate ended the year as the most-watched channel and multichannel respectively.
Seven’s Summer of Cricket broke records, growing commercial share in all key demographics throughout the day and in primetime. At year end, the current season’s AFL’s audiences were up 10% on last year.
Streaming platform 7plus is scaling both audience and revenue at a rapid rate, while 7NEWS.com.au has established itself as one of the most-viewed sites in the country just weeks after launch.
Seven Studios is capitalising on the global demand for content by licencing Seven’s shows, and signing production and co-production deals, with a wide range of international broadcasters and digital platforms including Netflix, Twitter and Facebook.
Seven West Media has delivered $38 million of net cost reductions in FY19, which reflected savings across all business units and was at the top end of cost-out guidance range of $30-40 million.
Seven West Media is forecasting FY20 EBIT of $190 to $200 million.
New Seven West Media managing director and chief executive James Warburton said: “FY19 was a tough year in the economy and advertising markets, which impacted Seven West Media’s performance.
“But we have incredibly strong assets, and our focus moving forward is to speed up the rate of transformation while exploring opportunities for growth in our core and adjacent markets.
“We will revitalise our entertainment programming, creating momentum to engage heartland Australia and enrich the demographic mix, ensuring we are the most relevant and exciting offer to advertisers.
“We will sharpen our focus on being a high-performance audience and sales led organisation, and we will redefine our working practices, becoming more efficient and effective and making savings which do not impact on ratings.
“We will be a hunter and explore M&A opportunities in both traditional media and non-traditional adjacencies that are positive for our shareholders.”