Seven cuts and plays the game

TELEVISION’S Seven Network parent company Seven West Media has swung back into the black as it cuts costs further than expected.

The group has lifted its share of the free-to-air commercial TV market for the past six months to a record level with its AFL rights and a suite of hit shows.

Seven West reported a net profit of $135.8 million for the year to June, a dramatic turnaround from the $744 million loss it posted a year earlier.

Seven revealed yesterday that, for the past financial year, revenue fell 3.2 per cent to $1.62 billion.

Chief executive Tim Worner said the group maintained a “single-minded focus” on improving its core business with ratings, revenue and cost savings the priority.

Its restructuring program had “accelerated in the second half of the financial year and delivered $61 million of cost savings on our initial $40 million target,” Mr Worner said.

The group, which also owned Pacific Magazines and the West Australian newspaper, said its cost-cutting program was on target to deliver net savings of $10 million to $20 million in the new financial year.

Seven’s broadcast of the Commonwealth Games earlier this year helped attract and keep viewers tuned in, Mr Worner said. During the second half, Seven won sixteen of 18 weeks in the official ratings survey carried out by OzTam, reaching a “record breaking” commercial TV market share of 41.6 per cent.

The company is planning a television cricket blitz over the summer after spending $450 million to buy broadcast rights to Australian Test matches as well as the men and women’s Big Bash Leagues.

Its full-year underlying earnings, which strip out oneoff items, fell 9.9 per cent to $235.6 million.

Seven Network, the group’s biggest division, reported a 13.5 per cent drop in underlying earnings to $216 million as revenue fell 1.2 per cent and costs climbed 1.7 per cent.