Tag: FXJ

Fairfax Media’s December half year more of the same – saw weak revenue, weakening print ads, more progress on digital subscriptions, indifferent digital revenue growth and more of the same over the rest of 2017-18.

In two weeks Fairfax Media shares face their biggest test – that’s when shares in the Domain property website listings start trading on a deferred settlement basis (the official date is a week later on November 23).

Fairfax Media shareholders gather in Sydney tomorrow for the 2016-17 annual meeting that will change the shape of the country’s oldest media company forever.

Is someone after Fairfax in the stockmarket and assembling a growing holding in the stock ahead of its annual meeting on Thursday week?

The course for Fairfax Media’s Domain separation track is now firmly set after yesterday’s 2016-17 financial report and update.

Fairfax shares dipped further yesterday after their falls of near 11% on Monday and over 8% last Friday, thanks to the departure of the company’s would be private equity suitors from the US.

Fairfax shares plunged yesterday after coming out of a trading halt of an hour from 10 am to allow a briefing to take place by the company as it sought to put the best possible complexion on its its rejection by the two US private equity groups, TPG and Hellman and Friedman.

Fairfax shares will slide this morning after US private equity giant, TPG abandoned a bid, and Hellman and Friedman failed to lodge an offer by last Friday.

Is private equity interest in Fairfax from US groups TPG (and its Canadian partner) and Hellman and Friedman, about to wane, with worries about financial forecasts surfacing and at least one big shareholder opposed to any takeover.

Control of Fairfax Media and three of the best known newspapers in the country looks like changing hands after a second US private equity group made a higher conditional offer, setting up an auction for the Sydney-based company.

It was hardly the most stunning reception for a higher takeover bid, but the new conditional $1.20 a share cash offer for Fairfax Media (FXJ) has at least started the ball rolling towards some sort of finality.

Investors have given a modest thumbs down to the news of a renewed move on Fairfax Media (FXJ) by US buyout group, TPG.

Fairfax Media (FXJ) confirmed last night it has received an unsolicited approach from a consortium led by US private equity company TPG capital. The rest of the consortium wasn’t identified last night.

If you had to focus on just one factor that helps explain the current industrial action by Fairfax Media journalists over the company’s cutting of 125 jobs and $30 million in costs, it is the worsening finances of the print side of the business – especially an accelerating slide in revenue so far in calendar 2017 compared to the same period in 2016

Journalists at Fairfax Media’s Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age went on an immediate week long strike to protest at yesterday’s confirmation that 125 jobs are going across the company’s newsrooms.

No sign of any improvement in the fading US newspaper business as Gannett, the country’s biggest group confirms that being cast adrift from the rest of the business in 2014 was in effect a slow death sentence. In fact the latest quarterly results for Gannett shows the path awaiting Fairfax Media (FXJ) should it listen to greedy shareholders and sell off all its Domain real estate business.

The cost/falling revenues pressures are moving closer to crunching Fairfax Media’s (FXJ) core newspaper business – the Sydney Morning Herald, the Melbourne Age and the Australian Financial Review.

Fairfax (FXJ) shares eased 3.6% yesterday to $1.055, despite leaks that TPG, the US owned private equity group had arranged “a billion dollar plus debt package” (according to Fairfax Media).

Out of the blue there’s a wave of takeover activity starting to sweep the top end of the ASX – in fact these stories have all emerged in the past 10 days. If all the reports become fact, bids more than $6 billion could be launched, which would need financing.

Is Fairfax Media’s (FXJ) route out of the sagging NZ print market about to get rougher?

Shareholders ignored Fairfax Media’s (FXJ) weakish interim results and focused on the confirmation of the Domain property website business spin off. Up went the shares after trading was halted on Tuesday and they ended the day up more than 8% at 94 cents.

A big day today for Fairfax Media (FXJ) which will confirm that it is heading down the demerger route by hiving off its Domain online property business.

Fairfax Media (FXJ) is remaining in print – a move that will upset News Corp Australia (which itself is now in a struggle to remain afloat after a massive write down in the value of its fixed assets last week) and some Fairfax’s shareholders who want to see the businesses sold off.

More activity on both sides of the Tasman in the dead tree business.

House prices in Sydney and Melbourne are still charging ahead, but that’s of no longer of any benefit to Fairfax Media (FXJ) and its Domain online property business, and probably to its bigger competitor, News Corp and its 61% owned subsidiary, REAG Group (REA), judging by the market reaction yesterday to poor news from Fairfax.

It looks as though APN News and Media (and its biggest shareholder, News Corp) and Fairfax Media will have to wait until well into early 2017 for a decision from NZ regulators about their proposed print, radio and digital website merger which would see the Kiwi print interests of Fairfax and the various websites backed, into NZME, the APN print and Radio spin off.

The most worrying part of the 2015-16 financial report from Fairfax Media (FXJ) yesterday wasn’t the big loss because of last week’s impairments announcement, or the enthusiasm for Domain as the company’s saviour – it was the collapse in earnings at the Metro Media business, which operates the key papers, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Melbourne Age and the Australian Financial Review.

Fairfax Media (FXJ) has made its second big write down in the value of its metropolitan and regional newspapers in four years, outlining a near $1 billion impairment as it moves towards the top to bottom revamp of its newspapers business.

Digital competition and not print issues have emerged as the focus for the New Zealand’s Commerce Commission assessment of the proposed merger of the NZ print and radio assets of APN News and Media, and NZ print assets of Fairfax Media – and for that reason the deal has a good chance of happening.

Fairfax Media (FXJ) beat market forecasts with its full-year results, reporting underlying net profits falling 3.9% to $143.4 million after tax and on a 5.3% dip in revenues to $1.88 billion.

Fairfax Media (FXJ) CEO Greg Hywood has told a Macquarie Investment Conference that the company had seen its first (admittedly small) rise in revenue for some time in the four months to April.

We’ve seen modest results from two major local media companies this week – Fairfax Media (FXJ) and Seven West Media (SWM) – which don’t provide much in the way of confidence about their longer term outlooks.

The market liked Fairfax Media’s (FXJ) reasonable profit report yesterday, with a higher dividend, but the thumbs up wasn’t strong enough to return the shares to the year high of $1.07 reached in May.