The net profit loss represents a significant decline compared with the corresponding result last year of $68.1m gained.
Company chairman Graham Reaney said it was “a very disappointing result especially given the investment made over the past few years in the core print business.”
Whilst sales revenue was up marginally to $713.2m, earnings before tax and interest (EBIT) were down to $33.5m from $48.1m last year, with the company citing “inefficiencies in the print business, combined with lower average selling prices and higher labour costs” for the decline.
The company’s net debt stood at $248.1m as of December 31.
The results come just days after the company announced it was closing its heatset operations at Salisbury South in South Australia as well as decommissioning its Rotoman 8 Press at Wacol in Queensland, with the loss of 76 jobs.
“This will result in one off redundancy costs [expected to total $4.8m] but improve operating performance and provide the opportunity for margin growth,” acting CEO Richard Allely said today.
“We have also cut corporate overheads by reducing ten executive positions and reallocating a number of tasks to the operating businesses.”
“The resultant savings will start to flow in the second half with the restructure cost reflected in our second half significant items. Together these efficiencies will better enable PMP to withstand any downturn in economic activity and position us to take advantage of future growth opportunities.”
“The combination of falling consumer confidence, higher labour costs and strong competition, will make achieving growth challenging for the remainder of fiscal 2009,” he added. “While precise forecasts are difficult at this stage, subject to there being no further market deterioration, we expect the second half earnings to be at least as strong as the first half.”
The company also said the search for a new CEO is “underway” following Evans’ departure last month.
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