国际英语新闻：News Corp surges after big turnaround to profit

CANBERRA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Helped by blockbuster hit movie Avatar, global media giant News Corporation on Thursday reported a net profit of 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, and said the company is well positioned for growth, Australia's media reported.

The result is a turnaround from the net loss of 3.4 billion U.S. dollars in the prior year, which included 9.2 billion U.S. dollars in pre-tax impairment and other charges.

According to The Australian, News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch said that despite the volatility of world economies, the company "continues to thrive on a truly global scale".

"These results underscore just how well positioned we are -- fiscally, operationally and strategically -- for further growth across all of our markets," Murdoch said in a statement.

The media group owns news agency Dow Jones, MySpace, 20th Century Fox movie studios, Sky Italia and newspapers in Australia and elsewhere, among other properties.

The company reported operating income, or earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of four billion U.S. dollars for 2009/10, up 11 percent from the adjusted EBIT of 3.44 billion U.S. dollars achieved in 2008/09.

Excluding one-time litigation charges and contributions from NDS Group plc, which was not consolidated in 2009/10, News Corp said operating income growth was 30 percent.

The market concensus was for EBIT to be around 4.232 billion U. S. dollars for the 12 months to June 30, 2010, according to Reuters data.

The full year result was due to double digit growth at the majority of the company's business segments, News Corp said, but offset by lower contributions from direct broadcast satallite television and other segments.

Murdoch said there was "significant" opportunity to expand the scale of News Corp's franchises, "including through taking advantage of the continual technological advances that will broaden the reach of our core content and distribution businesses".

"So as we turn to fiscal 2011 and beyond, I am confident in our businesses and in our people to deliver superior results," Murdoch said.