The new owner of Network Seven had a bumpy session after its first post-merger earnings reveal, which showed the contributions from its recent acquisition need work.
Southern Cross Media on Tuesday moved quickly to reassure investors of its revenue and profit goals after the CEO who came across from Seven West Media to head the group tapped out.
Jeff Howard left "with immediate effect" on Monday night, after just under seven weeks in the job he took following the formalisation of the $400 million-plus on January 11.
While admitting the shock departure was "significant", Southern Cross executive chair Heith Mackay-Cruise said it was a matter of speeding up the merger process to drive savings.
The existing Southern Cross Austereo audio business, which includes the Triple M, Hit and regional radio networks and podcast platform LiSTNR, is being integrated with Seven West, which includes Seven and The West Australian newspapers and digital platforms.
"So the key now is accelerating the delivery of that strategy and positioning our group to more quickly realise the benefits of our merger, and that culminated in changes to the leadership team," Mr Mackay-Cruise told analysts during an earnings briefing.
The overall group delivered underlying earnings - before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - of $106 million, down 14.5 per cent, in the first half of 2025/26 on a pro-forma basis.
Revenue was also down, by 1.5 per cent, to $1 billion, due to ongoing challenges in the advertising market, particularly for television and print.
As Southern Cross kicks off a global search for a new CEO, its long-term chief operating officer John Kelly is stepping up to head the core audio and television and publishing businesses, reporting to Mr Mackay-Cruise.
The audio business generated interim underlying earnings of $40 million, up 28 per cent on the previous first half.
The television, publishing and digital assets reported underlying earnings of $67 million, down 27 per cent.
That fall was in line with guidance and not unexpected by Southern Cross, whose shares fell to an intraday low of 63 cents on Tuesday.
The stock recovered somewhat to be down 4.5 per cent to 63.5 cents in afternoon trading.
In the days ahead of the formalisation of the merger, Southern Cross was trading around 76 cents.
But Seven's free-to-air TV audience was growing better than the market as a whole and streaming minutes for its 7 Plus on demand channel was up 62 per cent year on year, with sport a key driver, Mr Mackay-Cruise said.
More than 20 per cent of West Australians were reading at least one edition of the newspapers under The West Australian arm, and the digital platform had an audience of 5.7 million.
The group is aiming for savings of $30 million from the merger in the 2026/27 financial year, including through office consolidation.
Southern Cross is targeting pro-forma group revenue of around $1.9 billion for the 2025/26 financial year and expects a dip in group underlying earnings to $200-$220 million, from $233 million in 2024/25.
No interim dividend will be paid as the group focuses on paying down almost $340 million in net debt.
