Seven to ‘sweat assets’

New CEO buoyant despite $444m full-year loss

SEVEN West Media aims to wring every drop of value from its traditional media assets after reporting a $444.5 million full-year loss and flagging another drop in earnings for the year ahead.

Chief executive James Warburton, who took charge with last week’s abrupt ending of Tim Worner’s six-year tenure, said Seven had to improve and more effectively monetise its content after again writing down the value of its TV licences and newspapers against a backdrop of weak spending by advertisers.

Underlying profit for 12 months to June 30 was down 7.9 per cent at $129.3 million on the back of a 4.2 per cent fall in revenue, but $542.4 million in impairments among a total $611 million in one-off items dragged the media group to a heavy statutory loss.

Mr Warburton ( pictured) said Seven West was now a “hunter” in mergers and acquisitions but additional value could, in the meantime, be extracted from free-to-air TV network and newspapers that includes The West Australian and The Sunday Times.

“From a newspapers and magazines perspective ... it’s our job to sweat those assets as hard as we possibly can to integrate them as much as we possibly can with the rest of the business,” Mr Warburton said yesterday.

In TV, Mr Warburton said Seven would revitalise its scheduling so its marketing team could more effectively monetise content through advertising sales.

“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,” Mr Warburton said.

Mr Warburton, who had a short and ill-fated spell at rival Ten before happier stints in charge of Supercars and APN Outdoor, said his aim was for Seven West to become a “sales-led organisation”.

“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,” he said.

“We will be a hunter and explore M&A opportunities in both traditional media and non-traditional adjacencies.”

Seven West had already warned of lower full-year underlying earnings because of a softer advertising market and confirmed a 10 per cent fall. It has flagged more hard times ahead, with FY20 earnings before interest and tax expected to be between $190 million and $200 million.