Australasian publisher Fairfax Media Ltd., yesterday revealed a cautious warning that annual earnings were looking weak, as advertising revenue in Australia and New Zealand continued to decline as the economy remained stagnant, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The Sydney-based publisher of newspapers in New Zealand and Australia said that with continuing levels of advertising revenue decline, and before depreciation, amortisation, interest and tax, the company is set to report an annual earnings of A$600 million for the 2009 financial year.

This predicted figure is a decline from 2008 earnings of A$831.2 million.

"In the weeks since Easter, a clearer picture has emerged in relation to trading conditions in advertising markets in both Australia and New Zealand," Fairfax Chief Executive Brian McCarthy said in a statement. "It is apparent the markets have continued to deteriorate and although the rate of deterioration has abated, advertising levels are not expected to show any marked improvement at least for the rest of this financial year."

McCarthy said the predictions could have been more severe were it not for recent company diversification into other media forums.

Australia is set to enter its first technical recession in 20 years and advertising has been one of the most impacted industries. However, McCarthy believes advertisers will return as the economy recovers.

Until this time the company is determined to focus on cutting costs, with a current 10 percent reduction on the year to date.

"Consistent with these reductions the CEO, directors and generally direct reports to the CEO have accepted fee and salary freezes," McCarthy said, according to the Wall Street Journal. He also revealed further job losses are not out of the question as the economy fails to take a turn for the better and also said the publisher had outsourced certain editorial tasks.

Commenting on the potential for a paid content online model for the company's newspapers, McCarthy said charging for unique specialist content was an option.