APN News & Media shares fell more than 4 percent Tuesday, due to a slump in advertising and flat earnings in the first half, the Melbourne Herald Sun has reported Wednesday.

APN publishes 23 regional daily newspapers and more than 100 non-dailies in Australia and New Zealand. APN Chief Executive Brendan Hopkins said the company has been hurt especially by a slowdown in New Zealand's economy, which has also caused several large advertisers to cut their ad spending.

“We continue to believe that our Australian businesses will continue to perform well and obviously we've got some issues on the macro side in New Zealand,” Hopkins told the Herald Sun.

Net profit for the first half of the year, ending June 31, was down 0.7 percent to AU$71.9 million. Meanwhile, revenue at APN was up 2.5 percent, to $624.5 million. Analysts expect APN to pull in a $162 million net profit for the year, the Herald Sun reported.

The Australian radio market is also down, but APN's outdoor advertising was up EBIT 74 percent, to $16 million, according to the Herald Sun.