Country Life and NME owner IPC Media saw pre-tax profits crash by three-quarters to £11.4 million last year after Britain’s biggest magazine publisher took a £25 million writedown on the value of the business.
Leaving aside exceptional items, operating profit still fell by almost a quarter to £28.2 million and revenues tumbled by 5% to £314.8 million.
The group paid no dividend — unlike last year when it handed a £51.5 million payout to its US parent company Time Warner.
IPC’s immediate future remains uncertain as it has been without a chief executive since May when long-serving boss Sylvia Auton stepped down. A search for her replacement is ongoing.
Adding to the sense of limbo, Time Warner’s plan to spin off its magazines business — which includes Time Inc, the owner of IPC, in America — into a separate company has been delayed until early next year.
Time Warner wants to focus on its fast-growing film and cable assets CNN, HBO and Warner Bros studios.
Time Inc has always said it is not interested in selling off IPC, although that has not stopped on-off speculation for years.
IPC, based on the South Bank, employs 1,760 staff but announced plans to cut 150 posts this year.
