NZME Limited Analysis

Overview

NZME is a leading integrated media company in New Zealand, with a portfolio of publishing, radio, digital and e-commerce brands including the New Zealand Herald, NewstalkZB and GrabOne.

NZME was demergered from its parent, APN News & Media in June 2016. It is listed on NZX under the code of NZM from 27 June 2016.

Performance

The following information was extracted from NZME Limited's half year results, released 26 August 2025

AUCKLAND, 26 August 2025: NZME Limited (NZX and ASX: NZM) (NZME) has today announced its financial results for the half year ended 30 June 2025, reporting Operating Revenue1 of $165.7 million – down three percent from the previous corresponding period, in part because of the closure of the company’s community newspaper network in December last year. Operating EBITDA1 was $23.9 million for the half, an increase of nearly 12 percent over the same period last year.

Key highlights:

• OneRoof delivered an EBITDA2 improvement of $0.6 million compared to the same period last year.
• OneRoof outperformed the market with a 16% growth in residential listings revenue compared with the 1% growth in Real Estate Industry NZ’s (REINZ) market listings.
• Overall revenue in the Audio division grew from $56.4 million to $57.1 million compared to the first half of 2024. Digital revenue grew by 6% over the same period with growth expected to lift further in the second half of the year.
• NZME’s podcast revenue increased from $1.5 million to $1.7 million and the share of digital audio revenue obtained from podcasts also grew by 3% to 32%.
• Subscriptions across NZME’s Publishing division continued to grow with a 5% year on year increase, supported by sustained uptake in digital subscriptions.
• Free cash flow was $2.2 million - a $2.9 million improvement on the first half of 2024.
• Net debt of $33.3 million at the end of June is $9.2 million higher than the start of the year as a result of payment of the 2024 final dividend in March.
• Net debt remains within the target leverage range and was $3.3 million higher than the end of June 2024.