Down under downturn clobbers CanWest's Australian ops

WINNIPEG – A 6.6% decline in revenue and a 26% drop in EBITDA shows just how hard the Australian ad market has turned around on CanWest Global Communications within a year. At this time last year, the company's Oz ops, The Ten Group reported year-end records in revenue (A$956 million) and EBITDA (A$342 million). At the end of fiscal 2006, those numbers were A$893 million and A$253 million, respectively. (An Australian dollar is worth about $0.86 Canadian) Ten owns CanWest's Australian television and out-of-home advertising operations. "The decline in revenues and EBITDA from Ten's all-time records set in fiscal 2005...