bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Losses at Next Media, the listed arm of Jimmy Lai Chi-ying's publishing empire, nearly doubled in the year to March 31, largely because of the poor performance of its Internet business.

The company, which owns popular magazine EasyFinder  and information Web sites, plus a recently launched Taiwan edition of Next Magazine, yesterday reported a loss of HK$145.79 million.

It reported a HK$78.47 million loss a year earlier.

Turnover last year rose an annualised 61 per cent to HK$350.43 million. Turnover from Internet advertising increased to HK$6.68 million from HK$1.2 million.

Next Media, 54 per cent-controlled by Mr Lai, said the company had been adversely affected by the collapse in confidence in its online business.

The company said it had taken steps to address the issue.

In yesterday's announcement, Mr Lai said the company was focused on trimming the scope of its operations and the costs of its online content-providing business.

The announcement did not specify what steps had been taken.

In November, Next Media closed 11 of its 25 Web sites and laid off more than 100 employees.

Next Media also ended an investment in a holding company of a property portal operator in December, which involved payment of cash compensation of HK$23.34 million.

The company this month began charging overseas users a monthly subscription of HK$24 for accessing the mirror sites of the four popular titles - EasyFinder, Apple Daily, Sudden Weekly  and Eat & Travel Weekly.

The titles, except EasyFinder, are privately owned by Mr Lai.

Mr Lai said subscriptions, together with advertising and content licensing income, 'will staunch the losses to the point where this [Internet] business will substantially improve later this year'.

The company said yesterday the recent launch of the Taiwan Next Magazine, coupled with the strong results by its media and printing operations, meant it was confident about the future. The Taiwan magazine, which replicates the successful Hong Kong edition, had record-breaking sales when it was launched in the island in late May.

All 275,000 copies of the print run were sold in a day, far more than the island's previous highest circulation of about 80,000.

Last year, a larger volume of business from parent Next Media International bolstered the turnover of the listed arm's printing operations by 25 per cent to HK$186.2 million.

These operations showed a profit of HK$19.02 million in the year after three years of losses.

Nonetheless, analysts said the most effective way of turning around Next Media's operations would be through the company's proposed major asset-injection plan. Under the plan, which is awaiting stock exchange approval, Mr Lai will inject four of his personally held titles - among them Apple Daily  and Next Magazine - into the company.

The titles are expected to bring in HK$300 million of annual profit and an immediate turnaround in the company's fortunes.



Net pulls Next deeper into red ink