Sunday, June 14, 2009

Jasons Profit Announcement



Less demand for advertising in local visitor maps and guides, along with the launch of several new publication, has seen Jasons Travel Media post an 18% drop in profit for the year.

Thanks largely to the launch of several new publications, the company lifted revenues by 2.4% to $13.98 million for the year ending 31 March, but costs associated with those new activities also helped drag profit after tax down by 17.9% to $806,000.

This is still slightly better than the profit forecast issued by Jasons last month, when it said after-tax profit would fall from $982,000 a year ago to $787,000.

However, this was still below earlier projections, with the media company blaming the economic climate for its dour performance.

But with the company putting a lot of faith into new publications launched in the second half which have not yet reached targeted revenues, chief executive Matthew Mayne says the next year should be more stable.
"We have taken a conservative approach to forecasting revenues for peripheral products and local visitor guides. Some uncertainty remains around the short-term prospects for the tourism sector. However, with the benefit of a full year's contribution from last year's acquisitions and other new products, we expect to match the 2009 result.”

He says Jasons is building market share in a glum situation and is also exploring expansion opportunities in the Australian market.

“Australia continues to be the largest source market for visitors to New Zealand and the most significant destination for New Zealanders."

In the past year, Jasons has launched new tourism related publications in Christchurch, Rotorua and Auckland, and has also acquired tourism brochure distribution businesses in Rotorua and Northland.

As it is physically impossible for any company to reveal results without shifting a little blame on to the general economic climate, chairman Geoff Burns says lower than expected revenues were unavoidable due to a reduction in demand for advertising in smaller publications, particularly some local visitor maps and guides.

A fully-imputed final dividend of 2.24 cents at the end of next month, maintaining the annual dividend at last year’s level.


Source: Click HERE

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