Southern Cross Media is pitching a “content-led recovery” for its radio business, as its latest set of numbers may have investors spooked.
In its half year results, the company welcomed chairman of Pacific Brands, Peter Bush, onto the board as a non-executive director and chairman, replacing outgoing chariman Max Moore-Wilton.
Southern Cross Media booked revenue of $307.58 million for the half year to the end of 2014, a decrease of 7.3% on the previous corresponding period.
Its underlying net profit made worse reading for the radio and regional TV player, with a 24.5% plunge in net profit to $34.66 million.
The company said that the poor results reflected ongoing weakness in the TV advertising market along with a loss of share in the radio business.
However, it said that 2015 would be the year it starts the climb back up and starts paying off debt.
Its radio business, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), moved Dan and Maz to breakfast on Hit 104.1 2Day FM, while Hamish and Andy will return to national drive from July.
The decision to bring Hamish and Andy back into the drive fold has already seemingly paid some dividends for SCA, with major retailer Woolworths signing up to sponsor the show after a competitive process.
“The first-half results for FY 2015 reflect challenging conditions in television advertising markets and a reduced metro radio market share,” SCA CEO Rhys Holleran said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“In 2015, we are strengthened by the talent line-ups in metro radio and are confident that the strategic direction of the company and the focus on debt reduction will put the company in a sound position to improve over this financial year and the next.”
Its results were released to the exchange before the market opened for trading today.
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