News Corp bounces back into the black with strong year

NEWS Corporation has swung back into the black, posting a full-year profit or more than $300 million.

The media heavyweight, which publishes the Mercury, yesterday reported net income of $US228 million ($335 million) for the year to June, compared with a net loss of $US1.44 billion a year earlier.

It reflected the consolidation of Foxtel, increasing digital news subscriptions, and growth in the Kayo sports streaming service and digital real estate services, the company said.

Revenue was $US10.07 billion, up 12 per cent on the previous year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation clocked in at $US1.24 billion, up from $US1.07 billion.

News Corp chief Robert Thomson told investors the consolidation of Foxtel had added revenue, as did growth in digital subscribers at its newspapers, including the Mercury, Herald Sun, The Australian and The Wall Street Journal.

“News Corp completed fiscal 2019 robustly, with revenues rising 12 per cent and profitability 16 per cent … reflecting the consolidation of Foxtel, strength in digital real estate and substantial progress in the successful digital transformation of our news businesses,” Mr Thomson said.

The streaming TV service base in Australia had nearly doubled to 770,000, pointing the success of sports streaming service Kayo, with churn of subscribers actually falling at the same time, Mr Thomson said.

“Clearly, Kayo is adding significantly to the total number of sports viewers in Australia prepared to pay for premium content,” he said.

News Corp’s Australianlisted voting shares climbed 1.3 per cent, or 25c, to $19.90.