Seven’s James Warburton says COVID-19 has hit his network harder than his competitors.
But he told Seven’s Upfronts virtual event today that the pandemic has accelerated the content-led transformation he started when appointed CEO of Seven West Media in August 2019.
“We've become more efficient in our cost base to allow us to invest more in content,” he says.
“We've embarked on significant asset sales to reduce our debt, and we have three active processes in market which could further reduce our debt by Christmas.”
The company has been on an assets sales campaign, using proceeds to pay down debt. At last report, this had raised $150 million including Perth property and Pacific magazines.
On the ASX, in a rising market, Seven West Media shares were up almost 10% to $0.17.
He started the presentation by thanking the audience, including the greater media agency community in Australia.
“I wanted to thank you for supporting us through perhaps the most difficult year we've ever experienced. A year that will define a great number of us,” he told them.
“I was brutally honest when I stood in front of you 12 months ago, our plans were solid and content led.
“We were going to shake up our content offering after losing our way.”
And then the summer was dominated by bushfires, followed by the coronavirus crisis.
“We thought our new tentpole programming strategy would take six months to come to fruition. That was our forecast but it's not what happened,” he says
“We had to delay the filming of our longest running drama in Seven’s history, Home and Away.
“We weren't expecting to lose the AFL for eight weeks and we weren't expecting an Olympiad without the Olympics.
“COVID didn't single us out, but it sure as hell affected us more than our competitors.”
In August, Seven West told the market that it was seeing advertising revenue lift from the depth of the economic fallout from the pandemic.
The advertising market started improving from the start of the new financial year.
And in July, Warburton gained breathing space by pushing out the maturity date on the company's debt so he can implement his content-led strategy over the next 18 months.
The company amended its $750 million banking facilities with its existing lender group, extending the term to the second half of 2022 from 2021.
The deal gives Seven West $250 million in available liquidity and flexibility to "operate through this difficult trading period".
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