Ma'ariv Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MARV-M), owner of Hebrew daily "Ma'ariv", narrowed its net loss to NIS 96.4 million in 2011 from NIS 117.4 million in 2010. The fourth quarter net loss narrowed to NIS 47 million from NIS 52.4 million for the corresponding quarter.
Revenue fell 16% to NIS 271.6 million from NIS 323.6 million in 2010. Fourth quarter revenue fell 16% to NIS 60.1 million from NIS 72 million for the corresponding quarter. The drop in revenue was due to the steady erosion in the paper's exposure and income from advertising. The company said that the erosion greatly worsen because of freesheet "Israel Today", owned by Sheldon Adelson, and the switch of advertisers to it.
The salary cost of "Ma'ariv"'s outgoing editor-in-chief Avi Meshulam was NIS 1.08 million in 2011, including NIS 608,000 in salary and NIS 468,000 in bonuses. Outgoing CEO Israel Goldstein's salary cost was NIS 1.43 million in 2011.
Ma'ariv's operating loss rose 60% to NIS 159.4 million in 2011 from NIS 100 million in 2010. The fourth quarter operating loss rose to NIS 49.7 million from Nis 47.9 million for the corresponding quarter. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was a negative NIS 132 million in 2011, a decline from a negative NIS 74.6 million in 2010. Fourth quarter EBITDA was unchanged at a negative 41.1 million.
Ma'ariv's capital more than doubled to NIS 77.4 million at the end of 2011 from NIS 31.5 million a year earlier, mainly due to capital injections by the company's new controlling shareholder, Nochi Dankner.
Ma'ariv's share price was unchanged at NIS 2.80 in morning trading today, giving a market cap of NIS 321 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 26, 2012
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