Fairfax books loss on writedowns, ad fall

       Australia's second-largest newspaper group Fairfax Media Ltd yesterday reported an annual net loss of A$380.0 million (US$315.4 million) as the global downturn and the Internet hit earnings.
       Fairfax, which publishes the flagship Sydney Morning Herald and the Age in Melbourne, said the same factors that had caused numerous newspaper closures around the globe weighed on the bottom line.
       "Over the past financial year, the company has faced a business environment unprecedented in its long history," it said.
       "Three factors have had a major im-pact - the speed of the economic slowdown, particularly in the second half, cuts to discretionary advertising (and) the necessity to respond to online challenges."
       The result for the year to June, which included writedowns of A$664.3 million,turned around a $386.9 million net profit in the previous financial year.
       Fairfax, said net profit excluding writedowns was down 40% at A$226.7 million.
       "Performance for the 2009 financial year reflects a fundamentally profitable business with a number of one-off charges," the company said.
       It said most of the one-off costs related to writedowns in the carrying value of its mastheads and goodwill.
       Fairfax, which announced at the start of the financial year that it would slash 5% of its workforce or 550 jobs, said underlying earnings were down 27.2%at $605.0 million.
       The company also said that it would not pay an annual dividend but offered some hope that advertising revenues were stabilising.
       "Trading results in the first seven weeks of the new financial year indicate that the decline in advertising revenues appears to have bottomed but a material recovery in advertising has not yet commenced," it said.