WAN to spend $400,000 developing web presence

WEST Australian Newspapers Holdings has committed to entering the online advertising fray, outlining plans to spend $400,000 developing its web presence this financial year.

The first project will be developing online employment advertising, with international IT firm Computer Associates contracted to upgrade the existing site.

WAN, publisher of The West Australian newspaper, has been considered slow off the mark in the online world and the decision to enhance the loss-making online side of the business is a significant move by managing director Ian Law, who joined the company in August last year.

Mr Law said the company had moved to develop proprietary software to run the site, rather than rely on licensed software from a third party, as was currently the case.

He said moves by News Corp to ramp up its CareerOne site had provided a strong model for cross promotion.

“Whether it is catch-up or not I don’t really know,” Mr Law said.

“I think it is a big opportunity to develop our online revenue.

“We need to invest some money in it and we would aim to have the definitive site in WA in terms of employment.”

The online sector is relatively minor in the scheme of things for WAN, losing $600,000 before tax and significant items compared with the group’s result of $93.4 million for the year ending June 30.

For the group overall, cost cutting combined with advertising growth to produce a strong improvement for 2002-03, with a $15 million improvement in group revenue resulting in a $12.8 million rise in net profit.

Mr Law said cutbacks had continued at the group, with 25 full-time redundancies in the printing and pre-press areas, which are part of $3.2 million in anticipated costs for redundancies and restructuring at newspaper operation.

That is up from $1.2 million last year, which included a payout estimated to be worth one-year’s salary to former editor Brian Rogers, who took home $576,573 in salary and benefits last year – off a base wage of $192,670.

While Mr Law would not be drawn on the outlook for advertising, newsprint costs have dropped 4.2 per cent for this year on the back of a stronger Australian dollar. Newsprint represents 30 per cent of WAN’s costs.