Nine Entertainment boss David Gyngell says he's happy with the business's performance but warns times are still tough in television land.
Nine reported a pro-forma net profit of $144.2 million in its first full-year result since returning to the ASX in December.
The adjusted result - accounting for changes in the business and listing costs - was 3.4 per cent ahead of prospectus forecasts.
"We have exceeded our prospectus forecasts across the board, and we are making good operational progress across each of our television, live and digital businesses," he said.
The Nine boss's outlook commentary was sobering, however, as he pointed to continuing weakness in the advertising market.
Nine has forecast revenue in the key metropolitan ad market to be down by five to 10 per cent in the September quarter compared to a year earlier.
"I think it will be more in the high end of that scale," he said.
Looking towards November, Mr Gyngell said he was not optimistic.
"In all our numbers going forward we're looking at the numbers being flat to plus two (per cent)."
Investors responded by marking Nine shares down seven cents, or 3.3 per cent, to $2.03.
Morningstar analyst Tim Montague-Jones said Nine's result was sound but the revenue outlook had been below expectations.
Even though the previous half was boosted by election spending, the current economic gloom and budget uncertainty is weighing on the market.
"I think what the market is looking at is the outlook statement for television, which really is the core at about 78 per cent of earnings," he said.
Nine's share of the metropolitan free-to-air advertising market grew from 37.9 per cent to 38.7 per cent in the year, beating the 38.4 per cent prospectus forecast.
Revenue for the Nine Network television business was just 0.3 per cent below the prospectus forecast at $1.23 billion.
Mr Gyngell took consolation from strong performance in Nine's non-core businesses: the Nine Live ticketing and events division; and Nine Digital.
Nine Live's revenue was $228 million, 7.7 per cent ahead of prospectus forecast due to the success of events including tours by One Direction and Ricky Martin.
Mr Gyngell was also optimistic about the upcoming International Champions Cup - a Nine Live venture that will bring top European soccer teams to Australia over the next three years.
"I'm really excited by the underlying operations of our business," he said.
"Now we just need a little bit of market cooperation."
Perhaps also exciting for Mr Gyngell was his $19.6 million remuneration package, boosted by share allocations from Nine's pre-listing pay arrangements.
Mr Gyngell's new pay arrangement is $4 million, split between base and short-term incentives.
Nine Entertainment's statutory full-year profit was $58 million, down 95 per cent on the previous year's $1.2 billion due to one-off items and changes at the company.
Nine discussed its results in pro-forma terms, accounting for acquisitions, divestments and costs of its December, 2013 listing.
NINE DELIVERS ON IPO FORECASTS
Full year pro-forma net profit of $144.2m, up 3.4pct on prospectus
Full year statutory net profit of $58m, down from $1.2bn
Final dividend of 4.2 cents unfranked, up from forecast 4.1 cents
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