News Corporation Reports a Challenging Second Quarter on Tough Conditions for Old Media Divisions

News Corporation reported an underlying net profit after tax, or NPAT, of USD 114 million for second-quarter fiscal 2016, a decrease of 34% on the prior period. Underlying EPS was USD 0.20, a decrease of 33% on the year-ago period. No interim dividend was declared during the quarter. The underlying result was materially affected by adverse foreign currency fluctuations, which reduced group revenue by USD 141 million and group EBITDA by USD 25 million during the quarter. The digital real estate services division was the standout, with underlying EBITDA up 19%, reflecting strong growth in depth products for REA Group. However, weakness in news and information services more than offset this, with underlying EBITDA down 22% from continued structural weakness in print advertising. We expect financial performance to improve in the second half with the subsiding of second-quarter headwinds, which included Rugby World Cup costs for cable network programming and the book publishing division cycling tough comps from the popular Divergent book series.