Torstar Q4 battered by tough economy, writedowns

Hit by the tough economy, media company Torstar Corp. reported Thursday a fourth-quarter loss of $211.2 million, warned of difficult times for 2009 and cut its dividend in half.

It's share price closed down 5.32 per cent to $6.05.

The company, whose holdings include the Toronto Star, told investors its loss included $229.5 million in charges for its associated businesses and investment writedowns.

Excluding those one-time charges, Torstar said its profit would have been $18.3 million.

In the same quarter of last year, Torstar posted a profit of $47.2 million, or 60 cents a share.

The red ink in the most-recent quarter included a $137.7-million loss from Torstar's stake in CTVglobemedia. In addition, Torstar said it took a $95.7-million writedown as it reduced the value of holding CTVglobemedia to $200 million owing to the soft advertising market and the challenges facing conventional television.

Torstar also reported a loss of $23.2 million from its holdings in Black Press.

In the wake of the weak results, the company reduced its annual dividend to 37 cents a share from 74 cents.

For 2009, Torstar said its expects a "challenging year" with difficult economic conditions for its newspapers and digital divisions, while results are expected to be stable for its Harlequin publishing division.

"With continued pressure on newspaper revenues through the first two months of 2009, we are aggressively addressing costs across our business," said president and CEO Robert Pritchard.

Torstar said it cut 500 jobs in 2008, and recently announced the elimination of 64 jobs at Ontario newspapers in Hamilton, Waterloo and Guelph.

The company also announced numerous changes. After seven years, Pritchard will step down as president and CEO at the company's annual meeting on May 6.

Frank Iacobucci, chair of the board since 2005, will not stand for re-election. John Honderich, a former publisher of the Toronto Star, will take over as chair.