Fairfax Media has managed to post a profit of $224.4 million in a turnaround from last year's loss of $16.4 million – but print advertising revenue continues to drain from the business, down 24% on last year.
By comparison, digital advertising revenue climbed just 6% to $179.4 million. Print revenue was $280.7 for the year.
The result was underpinned by the sale of Stayz for $100.4 million while the company also had to spend $16.9 million on redundancies.
Overall revenue was down 3% at $1.972 billion.
CEO Greg Hywood said the result was a stable one and that he was “heartened” by the performance.
“Today's result underlines the ability of Fairfax to deal with the enormous structural changes impacting on the industry,” Hywood said.
“We have stabilised earnings and have completely remade the legacy-based, vertically integrated newspaper business into a genuinely multi-platform media company. We are now a leaner and more agile business."
Hywood said that improved profitability was the highlight for its metro media division, with full year Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation of $120.9 million.
The Domain Group saw online revenue grow by 40.5% and EBITDA rise to $56.6 million.
In New Zealand underlying revenues slipped 3.4%.
Fairfax's challenged radio investment was highlighted by Hywood as a work in progress, with revenue down 6%.
He said their had been “significant talent churn” and a refreshed lineup and restructured sales force was now supporting the business.
The company also reported that revenues for the first five weeks of the 2014/2015 financial year was down 1-2% on the previous year.
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