Seven West Media's profit after has fallen by 19.5% to $166.8 million as a weak advertising market rocks its print businesses and 'hinders' the performance of its Olympic Games coverage.
The group's revenues declined 2.8% to $1.68 billion, largely due to drops in The West and Pacific Magazines.
Seven booked a $745 million loss due to $989 million in impairment charges as the business revised future growth assumptions across the group; such as the value of its TV licence.
Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner forfeited his bonus, saying "it hasn't been a stellar year for the company".
TV was the strongest performing division with Seven's revenues up by 1% to $1.18 billion in a challenging advertising market that has declined by about 2.7% in the past year.
However, the cost of covering the Rio Games dented Seven's profitability, TV earnings dropped 14.4% to $249.7 million due to a $64 million lift in costs.
Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner said Seven's Olympic performance was “hindered by a soft advertising market”. Seven said it would adopt a cautious
Seven's annual audience share increased by 1.2% for total people, 1.7% for 16-39s and 1.4% to 25-54s. Stripping away the effects of the Olympics, Seven made gains of about 0.5% in total and 0.4% in the other demos.
Seven Studios, which produces and distributes TV shows abroad, grew revenues by11% to 97.3 million.
TV was a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy year for the group.
Earnings from its newspaper business, The West, fell 34% to $26 million due to an 11% decline in advertising revenue, partially offset by a 6.3% gain in print in digital circulation. The drop in advertising is also being impacted by Western Australia's sluggish economy.
Seven West Media's magazine business, Pacific Magazines, had an even more difficult year, barely making profit with earnings down 61% to $3.5 million.
Pac Mags results includes magazines that have been shut down; continuing operations earnings was down 19.8% to $7.3 million.
The magazines business has been hit with a 28% drop in advertising sales and a 15.9% decline in circulation revenue.
Its digital revenue grew 26.3% top $16.8 million but only accounts for a fraction of print.
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