APN restructures to battle media decline

TROUBLED publisher APN News & Media is restructuring its digital and regional divisions' management as it tries to combat tough times in the newspaper industry.

The company announced that it had replaced its Australian regional media division chief executive Warren Bright with its group operations and procurement director Neil Monaghan.

Chairman Peter Cosgrove said the company still believed there was a future for regional newspapers despite the current tough environment.

"APN believes there is a strong future in regional newspapers to provide local news to local communities and our strategy will be clearly focused on meeting this need for our readers and advertisers," he said.

In its digital operations, the company has simplified the management of its brands Exclusive, GrabOne and CC Media and disbanded its Business Development Office.

"We are committed to our digital ventures and our focus now is to drive the performance of these businesses and link them with our other media assets," Mr Cosgrove said. "We do not intend to make any significant digital investments this year."

APN is also reducing the size of its head office and as part of that process the position of chief development officer, held by Matt Crockett, has been made redundant.

The APN board said the business had been affected by the ongoing structural challenges in the media, mining slowdown, decline of government advertising and, recently, the Queensland floods.

The board said it believed a new direction of leadership was important to build on the company's progress.
APN shares were up 1.75 cents, or five per cent, at 36.75 cents at 2.20pm AEST.

Lonsec private client adviser Michael Heffernan said the market tended to initially look favourably upon restructures at media companies.

"The traditional media stocks are going through troubled waters and restructures tend to be the flavour of the day for them," he said.

"I think the market is looking for changes, and when they do the top management restructure, it gives the market a bit of heart for a little while until they see what the results are."

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EU ministers battle tax fraud

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne at No 11 Downing Street before presenting his annual budget to the UK Parliament. Source: Getty Images

EUROPEAN Union finance ministers tackle tax fraud and money-laundering as they wrap up two days of talks on Saturday.

After a first day in Dublin focused on eurozone bailout issues - tougher terms for Cyprus, easier repayments for Ireland and Portugal - ministers want to flesh out a banking union that sets down the pecking order for creditor losses in future Nicosia-style private-sector "bail-ins".

But the issue the big six EU states want to resolve is how to claw back a hoped-for trillion euros each year in unpaid taxes by cutting off escape holes and sharing customer bank data across borders.

The finance ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain staged a joint press conference late on Friday to press the case for uniform tax and bank information rules across the EU to ensure that governments get their revenue.

The EU has been tightening up progressively on tax evasion and money laundering as the debt crisis forces governments to look for every penny in revenue.

Most member states appear ready to go along but Austria in particular is holding out, insisting that individual privacy is paramount - including especially bank account details.

Changing tax law across the European Union requires all member countries to give their approval, without exception.

But holdout Austria says the drive is simply "government snooping".

The six countries, wanting to match the United States, said they want to push the cause at the International Monetary Fund, the G20 and OECD as a government fightback against money-laundering and fraud.

"This fight, this is not only national, a European fight - but a fight at the global level," French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said.

"Our message to those who try to evade taxes is this: places where you can hide are getting smaller and smaller," added Britain's George Osborne.

France has threatened to blacklist Austria.

Vienna in turn has pointed an accusing finger at British Crown Dependency tax havens such as the Cayman Islands.

Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said Vienna would "stick to" a constitutionally-guaranteed protection of privacy for deposit-holders.

Automatic sharing of account data "is a massive intrusion of privacy", and the result would be governments "snooping in the affairs of depositors", Fekter warned.

Inspired by a 2010 US law requiring automatic reporting of bank account information, the group of six have written to the executive European Commission seeking an EU-level take-up.

The issue is shooting up the agenda and will top a May 22 EU leaders summit.

Austria is now seen as the last EU holdout after Luxembourg - the other EU banking haven that blocked legislation in this area for years - indicated a readiness to lift some barriers in 2015.

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VB winning in battle of the brews

Source: Herald Sun

A BEEFED-UP VB has knocked off rival XXXX Gold from the top shelf as the nation's top selling beer.

Latest Nielson figures show the VB now makes up 12.2 per cent of all beer consumed in Australia with XXXX Gold slipping to 11.9 per cent.

A bitter brewery rivalry started between Victoria and Queensland after the nation's sunny state last year stole the mantle as the country's favourite beer with a market share 12.4 per cent.

Tell us below: What's your favourite brew?

VB reigned as king of beers for 19 years but drinkers lost flavour with Aussie icon after the brew was tinkered with and it's alcohol content dropped to 4.6 per cent.

Drinkers have been flowing back to VB after Carlton United Breweries decided to bring back the beer to its original 4.9 per cent alcohol content, original flavour and packaging late last year.

The move is costing CUB tens of millions of dollars in excise tax, but the gamble is paying off with sales up for the first time in 10 years.

``Seeing Vic Bitter's return to being Australia's favourite beer is heartening,'' Victoria Bitter general manager Richard Oppy said.

``Our drinkers were right; we shouldn't have tinkered with the brew.''

aleks.devic@news.com.au
 

View the original article here

VB winning in battle of the brews

Source: Herald Sun

A BEEFED-UP VB has knocked off rival XXXX Gold from the top shelf as the nation's top selling beer.

Latest Nielson figures show the VB now makes up 12.2 per cent of all beer consumed in Australia with XXXX Gold slipping to 11.9 per cent.

A bitter brewery rivalry started between Victoria and Queensland after the nation's sunny state last year stole the mantle as the country's favourite beer with a market share 12.4 per cent.

Tell us below: What's your favourite brew?

VB reigned as king of beers for 19 years but drinkers lost flavour with Aussie icon after the brew was tinkered with and it's alcohol content dropped to 4.6 per cent.

Drinkers have been flowing back to VB after Carlton United Breweries decided to bring back the beer to its original 4.9 per cent alcohol content, original flavour and packaging late last year.

The move is costing CUB tens of millions of dollars in excise tax, but the gamble is paying off with sales up for the first time in 10 years.

``Seeing Vic Bitter's return to being Australia's favourite beer is heartening,'' Victoria Bitter general manager Richard Oppy said.

``Our drinkers were right; we shouldn't have tinkered with the brew.''

aleks.devic@news.com.au
 

View the original article here