Incoming director Jim Grenon tells shareholders he is looking forward to "rolling up his sleeves"
Wealthy businessman Jim Grenon says he is looking forward to “rolling up his sleeves” as a new director of NZME alongside new chairman Steven Joyce.
Shareholder votes cast at today’s annual meeting saw the emergence of a new-look NZME board with current chair Barbara Chapman stepping down to make wayfor Joyce, a former National Party MP who has had previous experience in managing media assets.
Grenon, who owns about 13% of NZME, told shareholders he may not have the same qualifications as the other directors, but he was reasonably qualified in business turnarounds, having invested in companies for 40 years in Canada.
“Businesses that I didn’t necessarily know that well at the start, but very quickly learned, and I do think in the end managed to contribute significantly to them, and they proved to be financially very successful.
“So, I would like to just say I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves here as well and I think the future is bright for New Zealand and for NZME. I would also like to suggest if the economy could just uptick itself a little bit on us, that would be a nice little boost as well.”
Grenon went public in March with a plan to replace the entire board with himself and several other nominees. However, the parties managed a compromise deal with Joyce as the proposed chair and Grenon as a director.
“I would like to thank the people who helped me with this effort, and it was quite audacious,” Grenon said.
Joyce spoke of his background as a Cabinet minister and in media back in the 1980s when he started at RadioWorks and built the company up to what is effectively MediaWorks today.
He said he’d had a long history with the media industry and had been watching with interest the challenges and changes over the past 20 years.
“It has been quite extreme for an industry to be challenged in the way that this industry has been challenged.
“I think the current board and the leadership of NZME have set up a very good platform for the future ... I think the idea of standing as a director is to really take that opportunity forward and extend the company further.
“I’m a firm believer that there is a place in the New Zealand industry for New Zealand stories and New Zealand experiences to be celebrated.”
The final voting results showed 93.61% of shareholders voted in favour of Joyce and 86.17% in favour of Grenon as new board members.
Shareholders also voted for the re-election of existing director Sussan Turner (88.75% in favour), with two other existing directors, Guy Horrocks and Carol Campbell, retaining their seats and technology expert Bowen Pan to be appointed following the meeting.
Jim Grenon during the NZME’s annual shareholders meeting held at NZME HQ. Photo / Dean Purcell
NZME, which owns the NZ Herald, Newstalk ZB, BusinessDesk, a suite of music stations and property website OneRoof, provided a trading update to shareholders at the annual meeting.
Chief executive Michael Boggs said the first four months of 2025 had delivered a “higher operating ebitda” than for the same period in 2024.
“While the market outlook remains uncertain, the first four months of trading combined with our cost savings initiatives see us well placed to deliver improved operating results for 2025,” Boggs said.
“A number of cost reduction initiatives have been completed in the first half of this year and are expected to deliver annualised savings of $12 million.”
That included some $4m previously announced relating to the loss of 30 newsroom roles at the Herald and BusinessDesk.
Outgoing NZME chair Barbara Chapman speaks to shareholders at the annual general meeting. Photo / Dean Purcell
Boggs said the restructuring costs relating to those initiatives were not reflected in the year-to-date operating ebitda figure.
No guidance was issued for the first half or the full financial year.
“Unfortunately, the market remains volatile and economic commentators have softened their outlook from what was expected earlier in the year.
“Pleasingly, the economy is showing signs of recovery and lower interest rates are supporting overall economic activity.
“However, the market is not improving as much as we originally expected – it remains volatile and therefore we are taking a cautious yet optimistic approach."
In February, NZME reported a post-tax loss of $16m for the 2024 financial year after a non-cash impairment of intangible assets.
Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of $54.2m was in line with revised guidance of $53m-$55m.
Operating revenue had increased 2% from $340.8m to $345.9m.
It also said it was considering separating its property brand, OneRoof, into an entirely new business and had launched a strategic review to accelerate OneRoof’s growth and realise its ”full potential in delivering value for shareholders”.
Opportunities included the potential separation of OneRoof “to enable raising external capital, either public or private, to surface its value”; “potential pathways to value recognition and monetisation”; consolidation opportunities; and “additional resourcing and extra capacity opportunities”.
Today, Chapman said despite the tough environment, NZME continued to make progress on its 2023 three-year strategic priorities – OneRoof, audio and news.
In terms of OneRoof, Chapman said the property brand continued to be a strong performer with “significant future growth potential”.
“We have commenced an independent strategic review of the OneRoof business, which will look at a number of opportunities to realise its full potential in delivering value for shareholders and an update will be provided at NZME’s half-year results.”
