Recovering Fairfax beefs up board

The apparent lack of media and advertising expertise of the new directors was raised by shareholder activist Stephen Mayne and his views were echoed by other shareholders at the meeting.

The impact of the advertising slump on Fairfax's profit dominated the meeting but chief executive Fred Hilmer said signs of a recovery would underpin earnings growth in the first half of the 2003 fiscal year.

``While we cannot predict results with any certainty, advertising revenues are up marginally year on year, with the trend improving over the last month," he said. Mr Hilmer forecast earnings before interest and tax growth of 15 per cent during the first half, against the corresponding period last year.

Fairfax, owner of The Sydney Morning Herald, posted a 58 per cent slump in net profit, for the year to June 30, to $53.66 million reflecting what had been described as one of the worst advertising markets in more than a decade.

Mr Walker, chairman of the 2006 Commonwealth Games Committee and the Australian Grand Prix, will assume the directorship in January next year and be joined on the board by Qantas chairman Margaret Jackson and Woolworths chief executive Roger Corbett. Former Coca-Cola Amatil chief executive Dean Wills was named as the new Fairfax chairman.

Departing chairman Brian Powers insisted Mr Walker was a man of ``high integrity". He will also add a bit of Melbourne to a Sydney-centric board. Reflecting on his five years as chairman, Mr Powers said he regretted not having made a large acquisition.

He conceded that, in hindsight, he would have approached the loss-making f2 investment differently.

Mr Powers said there would be more room for growth by acquisition now that Fairfax had its printing facilities in Sydney and Melbourne finished.

He repeated the company's ambitions to move into television, noting that this was virtually impossible under the current regulatory regime.

Fairfax shares climbed 7c yesterday to $2.94.