New Herald feature paves way for money-making opportunities

NZME chief executive Michael Boggs. Picture / Dean Purcell.

A new feature of nzherald.co.nz paves the way for future money-making opportunities, says NZME chief executive Michael Boggs.

NZME, which publishes the New Zealand Herald and its website, reported digital revenue of $20.5 million for the six months to June 30, up 20 per cent compared to the same period the previous year.

Revenue for the print side of the business on a pro forma basis was $110.6m, down 4 per cent from first half of 2016 and Boggs said the company was "really pleased with the performance of print in the first half".

Trading revenue across NZME - whose radio stations include NewstalkZB, ZM and The Hits - was $189.1m for the half year, down 3 per cent on the same period last year.
"We are pleased to report a slowing in revenue decline to 3 per cent for the first half," Boggs said.

"We are happy with this result and the market rates of revenue decline in key products have been as high as 11 per cent. For the second consecutive half-year period the growth in the dollar value of digital revenue was greater than the dollar value of the decline in print advertising revenue. This suggests the digital strategy is contributing to stability at the group level," he said.

Earlier this year, nzherald.co.nz launched a new website using Arc, the state-of-the-art digital publishing platform from the Washington Post.

This month the website debuted a new feature for premium and in depth journalism, which Boggs said "utilising Washington Post technologies will be a precursor to allow the nurturing of our premium audiences for future monetisation opportunities".

NZME reported a trading net profit after tax of $9.9m for the six months to June 30, up 1 per cent from the same period last year on a pro forma basis.

The company's net profit after tax was $7.8m for the six months to June 30. The company reported net profit after tax for the six months to June, 2016 of $60.8m but this was impacted by its demerger from APN and discontinued businesses.

The company will pay an interim dividend of 3.5c in October.

NZME said its audience was continuing to grow and it was reaching more than 3.3 million New Zealanders.

The company said headwinds in recent years in traditional advertising markets had continued in 2017. First half revenue was slightly better than expected. Trading revenue for the first six weeks of the second half of the year was down 5 per cent on the same period last year.

NZME is appealing the Commerce Commission's refusal to allow its proposed merger with Fairfax NZ and will argue that the regulator's decision was wrong in "fact and law".

The appeal is being heard in the High Court in October and is expected to take nine days.
NZME shares closed today at 86c, down 9c.