Southern Cross Media Group is contemplating a name change.
But the company insists it won’t be called Seven Media Group despite a report saying this was the name on a meeting invitation sent to its executives.
“Seven Media Group is not the official new name of Southern Cross Media Group,” a Southern Cross Media Group spokesperson said.
“The official new name will be put to shareholders for a vote.”
Southern Cross Media Group is the combination of television and publisher group Seven West Media and radio network Southern Cross Austereo (SCA).
Much has been reported on internal tensions between the two camps, the television set and the radio heads.
The media group has had a series of sudden major changes including the overnight departure of a CEO and the exit of the chair.
The newly minted CEO, Rohan Lund, is an experienced television executive, formerly working for Seven when it was Seven Media.
He’s previously acknowledged the changes have been unsettling.
“So much change, so many new pressures, so much uncertainty, and for many of you, that original excitement for the business has been buried under the daily grind,” Lund said in an email memo.
The combination of the two ASX listed companies (with the new entity taking the ASXZ company code of SXL, belong to SCA) was meant to create a $400 plus million market capitalisation.
Instead, the shares are trading at 56 cents each, valuing the company at $261 million.
The company in February posted its first combined post-merger results, for both television and audio, with total revenue down 1.5% to $1.008 billion in the half year to December.
Television revenue was down 2.1% to $712 million while audio was up 3.2% to $216.5 million.
No dividends were declared, with the company focused on debt reduction.
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