Scandal-Hit Fuji Media Logs 1st Full-Year Operating Loss

Tokyo, May 12 (Jiji Press)--Scandal-hit Fuji Media Holdings Inc. on Tuesday reported its first full-year operating loss since becoming a certified holding company for broadcasting operations in 2008.

For the year that ended this March, Fuji Media incurred a consolidated operating loss of 8.7 billion yen, against a profit of 18.2 billion yen the year before.

The group was battered by a drop in advertising revenue following a sexual abuse scandal involving former TV star Masahiro Nakai, which raised questions about its governance and compliance. Valuation losses related to animation production costs also weighed on its earnings.

Fuji Media's overall revenue inched up 0.2 pct from the previous year to 551.8 billion yen, while the company eked out a net profit of 6.4 billion yen, against the year-before loss of 20.1 billion yen.

Fuji Television Network Inc., the group's core unit, saw its broadcasting revenue for January to March recover to about 90 pct of the level before the scandal came to light, as sponsors gradually resumed commercials on the broadcaster. The unit logged a full-year net loss of 26.3 billion yen, improving from a loss of 32.8 billion yen.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]