Post toasts 13th birthday with first profit

The National Post is in the black for the first time in its 13-year history.

Post president Gordon Fisher announced that the company was profitable in fiscal 2011 to staff in Toronto and bureaus across the country Friday.

The news follows several years of restructuring that saw the printed product increasingly focused on its six major markets. It also follows an aggressive pursuit of new reader and revenue streams across the Post's print, digital and mobile platforms, and more effective leveraging of Postmedia Network's publishing assets across the country.

As well, following the reintegration of FP Infomart into the NP corporate fold from its former position as a standalone operation with the larger company, new business strategies have been identified that take better advantage of the strengths of the Financial Post.

"This is great news for our readers, advertising customers and business partners,'' said Douglas Kelly, publisher of the Post.

"The National Post will continue to pursue new revenue opportunities relating to our core business, while going to market with cutting-edge sales strategies for our advertisers on all our platforms.''

Against this backdrop, Postmedia Network reported a much smaller net loss in the fourth quarter as declines in print were partially offset by restructuring efforts and initiatives to ramp up revenues from digital operations.

The Toronto-based owner of the largest chain of daily metro newspapers in the country booked a loss of $2.3-million while overall revenue in the period dipped 4.6% to $230million. The figures compare with a loss of $44-million in the same period a year earlier.

Cost-cutting efforts and attempts to boost its financial performance online helped the company, with digital revenues up 8.2% to $20.7-million in the three months ended Aug. 31. More than $14-million was trimmed from operating expenses.

Postmedia Network acquired the former digital news and print assets from now-defunct Canwest Global Communications Corp. in July 2010. Paul Godfrey, chief executive, said the company is shifting focus this year toward growth though he said he was cautious about the ad outlook.

"Our first year was predominantly about transformation and restructuring," Mr. Godfrey said in an interview. "Our energies this year must be aimed at the acceleration of revenue generation, especially from our digital operations."

Like other large newspaper firms - and ad-dependent media firms generally at the moment - Postmedia Network is nervous about the potential softening in ad markets as fears of another slowdown grip buyers.

Mr. Godfrey said the firm is seeing slowing momentum through September and October, furthering a trend first reported by companies south of the border, he said.

The New York Times Co. and other major U.S. publishers are showing ad revenue declines ranging between 5% and 12%, he said. Four of the seven largest groups reported a loss in their digital revenues.

An area of optimism is online. Newspapers everywhere are racing to capitalize on emerging revenue opportunities that the Internet is beginning to allow for, led by an explosion of mobile devices like the popular tablets.