Blaming the travails of the local market Opus says general market conditions for the Australian publishing division continue to be challenging, with performance for November and December below its expectations. However the Opus Singapore operation has continued to perform strongly which has partially offset the trading conditions of the local publishing division.
Cliff Brigstocke, CEO, Opus told Australian Printer, “The performance of the Publishing division has been affected by continuing reduced Government expenditure and overall softer market demand in the Publishing sector.”
Brigstocke says, “We have been leveraging the group and have been successful in moving orders to this plant that were previously done outside of the group.”
Opus reported earnings before interest and tax (unaudited group adjusted) of $7.5m compared to the previous year’s $12m for the same period.
There was also a drop in revenue to $60.1m in the first half of the financial year 2013 whihyc was $9.2m down compared the previous year’s $69.3m.
The company says continued reduced government expenditure has had a direct impact on the performance of the Opus Group’s Publishing division both directly through trading with government customers and at a macro level with overall softer demand in the publishing sector.
Trading for the Outdoor Media division has also softened in December 2012 compared to the same period last year, recording a 4.6 per cent drop.
Opus says the decisive cost restructuring activities undertaken as well as continued expansion of no profit related services will offset the current market which it says is challenging.
Expenditure and capital outlays incurred with the closure of the company’s Mulgrave site and other rationalisation costs for the Australian Publishing operations approximated $3m in the first half of FY13, with the restructuring activities largely completed the second half FY13 result is expected to improve on the first half result.
Opus is also in an agreement with its senior financier to reset the Debit Facility structure, leaving the company positioned to support the future growth and viability of its core businesses, and the implementation of the net debt reduction strategy with the support of its financiers.
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