THE NEWS WRAP: APN rocked by executive resignations

Newspaper and radio conglomerate APN News & Media has been rocked by the resignation of its director and chief executive, along with three other directors, in the wake of a major clash with investors.

The resignations came after the directors and senior management proposed a capital raising to reduce the company’s debts, which was rejected by major shareholders INM and funds management firm Allan Gray.

APN owns a number of major print and radio assets, including the Daily Mercury, New Zealand Herald, the Mix-FM radio network and the Classic Hits radio network.

Amcor to shed jobs despite half-year profit growth

Print and packaging giant Amcor has announced its first-half profit has grown 16.3% to $238.3 million for the six months to December

However, despite the result, the company will go ahead with 300 planned job cuts at its manufacturing facilities in Queensland and Victoria.

The company also states that tough trading conditions make the job cuts necessary, with the high Aussie dollar slicing $20 million off its bottom line.

Vodafone to invest $1 billion in improving network coverage

Vodafone has announced it will invest $1 billion in improving its network coverage and rolling out 4G services in a bid to reverse its flagging fortunes.

“We are going to spend more this year than we have ever spent in our history in a single year of investing into the network,” Vodafone chief executive Bill Morrow told The Australian.

The investment is a bid to reverse a loss in customers that is estimated to have cost the company one million subscribers and $700 million in revenue since 2010.

Overnight

While Wall Street was closed for the Presidents’ Day public holiday, in London the FTSE 100 lost 0.16% to 6318.19. The Aussie dollar is up to $US102.97 cents.