Canwest revenues and operating profits slump

Canwest Global Communications Corp. saw its sales and operating profit drop in its latest quarter even as the bottom line improved from a massive year-ago loss, the company said Friday. Canwest, which owns the Global television network and the National Post newspaper among other assets, posted a net loss of $111 million, or 62 cents a share, for its fourth quarter ended Aug. 31. The beleaguered media giant's bottom-line loss was an improvement over the year-earlier loss of $1 billion, or $5.74 a share, which included more than $1 billion in asset writedowns. For all of the 2009 financial year, Canwest lost $1.7 billion, or $9.51 a share. That was much worse than the net loss of $1 billion, or $5.87, for 2008.