BRIEFS
MEDIA
MEDIAAPN toughs it outA writedown on the value of its New Zealand mastheads has pushed the regional newspaper, radio and poster company APN News & Media into a first-half net loss of $319 million as trading conditions in its newspapers remained tough. The publisher announced a $485 million non-cash impairment charge associated with its New Zealand mastheads in the six months to June 30. Australian mastheads were unchanged. The APN chief, Brett Chenoweth, said that conditions in its publishing division remained tough and were likely to continue to be until the end of the year. "We are not in a position to call a recovery, we are assuming the next six months are going to be tough and we are planning our business accordingly," he said.RETAILOroton baggedShares in Oroton fell as much as 20 per cent after the retailer lost the licence to exclusively distribute Ralph Lauren in Australasia. "While we're disappointed, we had contingency plans in place," the Oroton chief executive, Sally Macdonald, told BusinessDay.STEELBisalloy's bolterBisalloy Steel Group Limited has reported a net profit after tax of $6.8 million, a 129 per cent increase on the previous year. The company announced it would reintroduce fully franked dividends in the 2012-13 year, to be paid on 50 per cent of net profit after tax, excluding any contributions from its Chinese joint venture. Revenue for the year was $104 million, up 32 per cent. Its shares closed yesterday at $1.53, up 16? on the last trading day's close of $1.37.TAKEOVERSAlesco rebuffedThe Takeovers Panel has declined to make declarations in relation to complaints brought before it by takeover target Alesco Corporation and predator DuluxGroup. Building products supplier Alesco had claimed that paintmaker DuluxGroup had made misleading and deceptive statements in relation to its bid. Alesco claimed that DuluxGroup had overstated the amount of dividends that Alesco could pay and the value to shareholders of franking credits.ONLINEQuickflix tabs a hitShares in the online movie company Quickflix have risen by more than 4 per cent on the back of the release yesterday of its "all you can view" movie streaming service on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.
Share this article and show your support