Seven West Media needed some good news this week after a tough start to the month. The company’s FY24 full-year results revealed by new chief executive Jeff Howard didn’t offer any. Group revenue of $1,415m was down 5% ($73m) on FY23.
Statutory net profit after tax of $45m was down 69% on FY23, while underlying net profit after tax was $78m, down 46%. Group EBITDA before significant items of $187 million was down 33% ($93 million) on FY23. Without the Olympic Games for the first time since 2012, Seven was beaten up badly in the TV ratings for the first two weeks of this month.
Then on the day of the Paris 2024 closing ceremony, the bad news continued – ABC’s Four Corners dropped its investigation into what was called a “toxic culture” at Seven. In a statement issued with the earnings results, Howard said: “ FY24 is a tough result for SWM in a challenging market. While growth in audience and revenue share partially offset the impact of the weak market, cost growth of 2% contributed to our EBITDA decline of 33%, reflecting the operating leverage in our business.
“Following delivery of $25m of cost-out initiatives in 2H, we have taken decisive action to materially increase the program into FY25 to give SWM a platform to drive improved performance .” Howard continued: “The continued weak economic environment contributed to an 8.2% decline in the total TV advertising market in FY23.
SWM was able to partially offset this decline by increasing our revenue share o.