WINNIPEG – Despite “substantially reduced” operating expenses, Canwest reported a net loss of $1.69 billion for its fiscal year ended August 31, 2009.
The loss included $1.42 billion in non-cash impairment losses on goodwill, intangible assets and property and equipment, interest rate and foreign currency swap losses of $150 million, and foreign exchange gains of $278 million. By comparison, Canwest’s net loss for fiscal 2008 was $1.04 billion.
Revenues decreased 8% to $2.87 billion, while operating profits before restructuring, impairment and other expenses decreased by 25% to $462 million.
But president and CEO Leonard Asper described the beleaguered company’s business units as well positioned “to be even stronger competitors as the economy begins to rebound.”
“While the abrupt and unprecedented decline in advertising revenue had a significant impact on Canwest, most business units continued to perform better than the industry average with on-line and specialty television reporting growth even in the face of the recession,” Asper said in a statement.
For its Canadian television operations, which includes the CW Media specialty television operations, 2009 revenues were down 3% to $1 billion, while operating profit was up by 18% to $194 million from the prior year. These results continue to reflect the "industry leading performance" of the specialty television operations and continued focus on cost containment initiatives, the company’s press release read.
Australian Network Ten’s revenues were $636 million and operating profit was $118 million for 2009, down 15% and 36% respectively, from last year. These results continued to be impacted by the difficult Australian advertising market and the effect of a weaker currency relative to the Canadian dollar throughout fiscal 2009.
The publishing division’s revenues were $1,099 million and operating profit was $177 million down 15% and 40% respectively, from last year.
Canwest’s net loss for the fourth quarter was reduced to $111 million from $1.02 billion a year ago, and revenues were $624 million compared to $721 million for the same period last year.
