1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,280 Speaker 1: Media company enzed Me, which owns this station, News Talk 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: ZB and the New Zealand Herald, is reporting a full 3 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: year net loss of sixteen million dollars today, but they 4 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: did have a big impairment of twenty four million dollars. 5 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,160 Speaker 1: We'll have more on that shortly. Earnings were down at 6 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: down three point six percent for the year, but operating 7 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: revenue was actually up slightly up two percent. Michael Boggs 8 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: is the CEO of nzed ME. Hello, good afternoon, good afternoon, 9 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: Good to have you on the program. So what's this impairment? For? 10 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: What's worthless to the business. 11 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 2: Effectively, what we have to do is every year assess 12 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:36,239 Speaker 2: all the different parts of the business. And as you 13 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 2: can imagine, print is a business that is in decline 14 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 2: and has been for many, many years. So what our 15 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,479 Speaker 2: auditors make us do is have a projection looking forward, 16 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 2: using very conservative estimates as to what revenues and profits 17 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,519 Speaker 2: might come from that. And based on that conservative estimate, 18 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 2: what are the assets worth on the balance sheet? Oh, 19 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 2: what's the brand's worth? And masteed, so not things you 20 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 2: can physically touch, and if they're worthless, you have to 21 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 2: take an here in charge. 22 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: In other words, newspapers are worthless, which would be no 23 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,480 Speaker 1: surprise to anyone, I suppose absolutely. So where does that 24 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: Where does that leave you going forward? If you've got 25 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: you know, there's talk that maybe you'd split off part 26 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: of the business, your print business. 27 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 2: Well, certainly no talk of splitting off the print business, 28 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 2: because it's a very successful part of our business, and 29 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 2: in fact, we continue to have really strong readership. Our 30 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 2: print business actually only declined by three percent last year 31 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 2: from the number or the revenue we got from our subscribers, 32 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 2: so people are still absolutely loving the product and advertising 33 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:33,320 Speaker 2: remains really strong. 34 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: You're just not growing. You're talking print as an online 35 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: and the newspaper purely just the newspaper. Interesting, So where 36 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: do you see when you look ahead, what are the 37 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: areas that you see for growth? Obviously you've mentioned One 38 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: Roof as a big one. 39 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, so one Roof. For the last three years, 40 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 2: we haven't been trying to make a profit. Effectively, we're 41 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,559 Speaker 2: putting every dollar of incremental revenue we've made back into 42 00:01:57,600 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 2: investing in the business to get it to grow. And 43 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 2: what we see it is twenty twenty four we will 44 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 2: look to try and make a profit with one Roof, 45 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 2: So we did have a four million dollar improvement in 46 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 2: the bottom line. 47 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,359 Speaker 1: And there's talk that maybe you would split that off 48 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:10,679 Speaker 1: into a separate business. Yeah. 49 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 2: What we've announced is that we'll do a strategic review 50 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:15,799 Speaker 2: of One Roof. So we've appointed an external party, Jarden, 51 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 2: there are investment bankers to really review a number of things. 52 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 2: One is how is it structured and what's the best 53 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 2: way of the shareholdings of that business. Should we own 54 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 2: all of it or should there be other shareholders in it? 55 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 2: For example? Should we be investing more in it to 56 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 2: go faster again to actually make it worth more for 57 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 2: our shareholders? And our key focus is we don't think 58 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,679 Speaker 2: the value of One Roof today is being reflected in 59 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 2: the NZB share price, and that's what we want to see. 60 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 2: What should we be doing better. 61 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: Let's talk about the market more generally. It's been a 62 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: pretty tough time. It's been a pretty tough year for 63 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: media businesses. How have you managed to I mean many 64 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: people would look at this and say you've actually you've 65 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: got away pretty well here. 66 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:57,119 Speaker 2: Yeah. So in total, our ebit DAAR was down two 67 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 2: million dollars on last year. So last year we did 68 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 2: a fifty six point two million dollar. Ever, this year 69 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 2: we did fifty four point two, so in an environment 70 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 2: that's pretty tough, we're pleased with that result. However, it 71 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:10,799 Speaker 2: was still down. So one of the things we've seen, 72 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 2: and I think you'll be talking about your show every day, 73 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,239 Speaker 2: is there are glimmers of hope out there. We are 74 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 2: seeing inflation down, we are seeing interest rates down, we 75 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 2: are seeing GDP at beginning to grow, and so we 76 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 2: think those are great indicators of future success, not only 77 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 2: for New Zealand, but for our business. 78 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: You've cut thirty jobs, you've saved four million dollars that 79 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: you've finished. 80 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 2: Look, we're always looking, obviously as you'd expect, for ways 81 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 2: to improve the business. But at the same time we're investing. 82 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 2: We're introducing a new video, new show which requires more 83 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 2: people back into the business. 84 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: The revenue from that you've spoken about today, What do 85 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: you make at the moment from video In terms of revenue. 86 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 2: It's a very small amount, so it would be a 87 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 2: minor amount of our overall digital revenue, but every person 88 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 2: that watches a video we would earn significantly more a 89 00:03:57,080 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 2: multiple times more than a person just looking at a 90 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 2: stat ad for example, on the Herald, So we truly 91 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 2: think we've got a real opportunity one to firstly engage 92 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 2: an audience and then to actually be able to sell 93 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 2: advertising on that show. Importantly, also, we've had a number 94 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 2: of advertisers already approach us and say how can we 95 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 2: be part of that, which I think is a really 96 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 2: good sign. 97 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: Do you how much do you expect to make off 98 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: that video? 99 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 2: It's not something that we're talking about publicly, but we 100 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 2: expect it to become a substantial part of our business. 101 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: Does The Herald's digital revenue cover the cost of its 102 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: news production at this point or do you rely on 103 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: that print publication? 104 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 2: No, it absolutely does. So one of the things we 105 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 2: did last year is we changed the way we report 106 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 2: our profit loss of print versus digital. So now all 107 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 2: of our journalists charges go to our digital business unless 108 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 2: they are purely for a print product, and we actually 109 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 2: make a profit from our digital business even after paying 110 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 2: for every single journalist. So we think that's a really 111 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,040 Speaker 2: good sign for the future. It's an area we think 112 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 2: will absolutely continue to grow and become a bigger and 113 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 2: piggerparter business. Having said that print is really important for us. 114 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: The portion can we know are we able to glean 115 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: some insight into how much money you make from you 116 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 1: your one roof versus your online versus your print versus 117 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: your radio business. 118 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, so in our financial statements we do split 119 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 2: that out between the various businesses, and so our publishing business, 120 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 2: being the print in digital, is still by far the 121 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 2: biggest contributor, followed by our audio business, and then our 122 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 2: one roof is the smallest, but one roof is the 123 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 2: one growing the quickest overall. 124 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: There was talk in the news a couple of weeks 125 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: ago about Nick Mowbray maybe wanting to own enz in me. 126 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 1: What did you think of that? 127 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 2: Oh, lookie, you can never believe everything you read in 128 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 2: the newspapers, for. 129 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: Example, not a great thing to say as the boss 130 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: of the newspaper. 131 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 2: It wasn't ours thingfully. 132 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: Michael, thank you very much for that. Great to have 133 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,280 Speaker 1: you in the studio, Michael Bogs, the n zed ME 134 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: Chief executive. 135 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, Listen live to 136 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 2: news Talk sai'd be from four p m. Weekdays, or 137 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 2: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.