Nine Entertainment Co, the conglomerate formerly known as PBL Media that owns ACP as well as the Nine Network, has reportedly posted a $427.8m loss for the 12 months to 30 June 2011.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review this week, the results were pulled into the red by a $775m impairment charge that mostly comprised a $600m write-down at ACP, widely considered an anchor to a desired public float of Nine Entertainment by private equity backer, CVC Asia Pacific.

The Nine Entertainment empire is weighed down by debt baggage than has sat at around $4bn over recent years.

This led the group’s directors to point towards a potential sale of assets to meet its covenants, prompting talk of a “fire sale” of ACP Magazines, according to the AFR reports.

Just last month, Nine Entertainment sold the Asian arm of its magazine publishing business to Singapore Press Holdings for $45m.

As the largest magazine publisher in the country, with high-circulations mastheads such as Australian Women’s Weekly and Cosmopolitan, ACP has been particularly exposed to the downturn in ad spending and structural changes affecting print publishing.

In contrast, the second industry’s player, Pacific Magazines, part of Seven West Media, has published more positive figures, with a 0.9% rise in EBITDA to $53.5m for 2010/11.

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