Postmedia records profit despite declining revenue in fourth quarter

Postmedia records profit despite declining revenue in fourth quarter

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“We think there is still more pain to come,” MacLeod said. “But our hope is it won’t be as severe, and acute, as it was in the February, March and April time-frame.”

MacLeod thanked the federal government for its continued support through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program, but noted that the material benefit to Postmedia, in terms of dollars and cents, will decrease as the economy comes back.

“We are very grateful to the government for that support, because it allowed us to preclude draconian decisions, in terms of restructuring the business, or closing titles — and impacting people,” MacLeod said.

“As we look forward into the winter and the spring, the government hasn’t yet clearly articulated what the new criteria will be, but our expectation, and our hope, is that we will be increasingly less reliant on any type of subsidy because the economy will continue to improve.”

On an annualized basis, Postmedia revenue for the year ended Aug. 31, 2020 was $508.4 million as compared to $619.6 million in the same period a year ago, a decrease of $111.2 million or 18.0 per cent.

Despite revenue declines, media readership numbers remain strong.MacLeod said the company’s long game of growing its digital revenues to a place where they are business-sustaining, while managing the decline of its legacy print business, remains unchanged.

What has been most encouraging, he said, is the increasing attention governments in the United States, Australia, France, the United Kingdom — and Canada — are paying to tech giants such as Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc., which have come to dominate online advertising markets.

“Addressing the dominant position of these players, that is something that is going to be critical to this industry’s future,” MacLeod said.

The CEO stressed that, during a period in which the trajectory of a global pandemic remains impossible to predict, the company will continue to play “defence” with its cost structures. In a bounce-back economic environment, MacLeod added, the company would expect to hire people.

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