The Australian Radio Network's parent company APN will change its name to HT&E, short for Here There & Everywhere.

The name change was agreed to at the company's annual general meeting today, where APN announced it will recommence paying dividends to shareholders after a significant restructure of the company over the past few years.

Explaining the name change CEO Ciaran Davis told shareholders:
 

Imagine driving along and as you come up to an outdoor poster, it starts talking to you - through your radio.

Well, if you’ve been driving around Perth lately, that’s exactly what you would likely to have experienced.

For the company behind the technology, APN News & Media (APN), it helps if you own both a radio network, ARN, and an outdoor network, Adshell.

Rob Atkinson will replace Tony Kendall as CEO of the Australian Radio Network in a series of changes in the APN News & Media executive team. 

Shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in favour of the proposed sale of Australian Regional Media (ARM) to a subsidiary of News Corp.

99.94% of shareholders who voted (which excluded News Limited and its associates) voted in favour of the sale of ARM.

Ciaran Davis has been appointed to the APN board as an Executive Director (Managing Director) of the Company, effective immediately.

APN News & Media Chairman, Peter Cosgrove, said: “Ciaran has made a significant contribution to APN. He was promoted to the position of Chief Executive of the Company in August 2015 from his role as Chief Executive of APN’s Australian Radio Network (ARN). Since his appointment, he has led the Company through a phase of substantial transformation and strategic development.

As foreshadowed by APN, and reported earlier this year on radioinfo, APN is off-loading its regional newspapers to concentrate on its 'growth assets' radio (ARN), outdoor and digital.
 

Following on from reports earlier this week, APN News & Media Limited announced today the successful completion of the institutional component of its fully underwritten 1 for 3 accelerated renounceable entitlement offer with retail entitlements trading (Entitlement Offer).

APN and Fairfax have confirmed NZ merger plans following yesterday’s AGM, with APN extending a halt in trading on the stock exchange.

“APN and Fairfax have entered into exclusive discussions regarding the potential merger of their respective New Zealand businesses,” the firms said in a statement.

CEO Ciaran Davis has addressed shareholders outlining APN’s focus and priorities should the demerger go ahead.

APN News & Media announced today a request to halt trading. In a Market Release, APN will recommence trading on Wednesday May 11th. The release states that the reason for the trading halt is "pending the release of an announcement concerning a potential material transaction by APN in relation to APN's New Zealand business, NZME."

More to come.