Margins on earnings before interest and tax (ebit) are 29 per cent, compared with Australia’s 18 per cent margin. Fairfax Digital’s ebit margin is nearly 26 per cent, up from less than 1 per cent in 2005.
Circulation at Fairfax’s New Zealand newspapers and magazines rose 1.9 per cent for the latest half-year, compared with Australia’s 0.3 per cent increase.
Chief executive David Kirk said the interim results showed a stagnating economy and that weaker advertising was responsible for the 9.3 per cent decline in New Zealand ebit, although its earnings slid 3.8 per cent.
Fairfax-owned New Zealand newspapers include The Dominion Post, The Press and Sunday Star Times plus the Trade Me auction site established by Wellington man Sam Morgan in 1999 and bought by Fairfax for $700 million in 2006.
Trade Me is New Zealand’s top internet site and appears to be on track to report a full-year ebit of $45 million after notching up $23.3 million in the first six months of its new ownership.
