The media giant reported its total revenue down 9.2 per cent to $1.26bn while earnings before interest and tax dropped 12.5 per cent to $268.3m.

While Fairfax says its printing was affected by lower volumes which resulted in lower revenues, its online businesses Fairfax Digital in Australia and Trade Me in New Zealand recorded an 11.3 per cent jump in earnings to $53.1m.

Over the past six months, Fairfax outlines it has continued to implement a number of initiatives aimed at continually improving the performances of operations and meet the challenges of the ever changing media landscape.

Initiatives for its print division included commissioning of a new Goss press in Christchurch, New Zealand and the better utilisation of print centres by bringing in-house previously externally printed publications such as Sunday Life and the TV Guide.

the company outlines that trading for the first six weeks of the second half has been stronger than for the same time last year.

A company statement continues, “Whilst this is encouraging, revenue visibility and booking cycles remain quite short with no sustained trends evident. Revenue growth is being experienced across the majority of media and digital operations but the New Zealand publishing market has remained subdued.

“Based upon current market trends we anticipate earnings growth in the second half compared to the same period last year.”

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