Sun Media losses sink share price

The share price of Sun Media Holdings dropped 14.2 per cent yesterday after the television and media company reported losses of $364.86 million for last year.

Sun Media's share price closed yesterday at three cents, after plunging by as much as 34.3 per cent in morning trade.

'[They] appear to be a mess,' said an analyst at a European brokerage, who described the company's business strategy as 'like a headless chicken running around', trying to do too many different things.

The analyst said Sun Media had focused on a number of different media-related areas in the past few years including television, dotcoms and publishing.

He said it had swapped stakes with other companies along the way and in the process had issued a huge number of shares.

'It looks from the sidelines like they're trying to be too clever, doing too many deals, and each business they go into they seem behind the curve,' the analyst said.

Sun Media is managed by chairman Yang Lan and chief executive Bruno Wu. Phillip Securities research director Louis Wong Wai-kit said Sun Media had made 'a lot of convoluted transactions; a lot of acquisitions and fund-raising share-placement activities, but in terms of earnings the company has seldom delivered.'