Revenue at the Australian mastheads run by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp fell by 6% last year, and the company’s pay TV operation, Foxtel, has also been hit by falling subscriber numbers.

But results released on Friday show that overall the globe-spanning media empire returned to the black in the year to the end of June, declaring a profit of US$155m (A$228m).

This followed a loss of about US$1.5bn in 2018, due mainly to News Corp taking full control of the struggling Foxtel by buying out Telstra.

Across the news part of the group, advertising revenue fell and subscription revenue was flat as the company struggled against currency movements that have made its non-US businesses less lucrative.

News Corp said a 3%, or US$163m, fall in revenue at its news division, which includes its papers and websites in Australia and the UK, was largely driven by declines in the Australian dollar and UK pound.

Revenue at News UK, which includes the Sun and the Times, fell 4%.

The mood was grimmer in the last three months of the financial year – News Corp Australia revenue slid 7% and News UK revenue was down 10%.

In an effort to cut costs, News Corp made several staff across editorial and other divisions at its Australian tabloids redundant in the run-up to June 30.

It did not mention the job cuts in its results announcement, but said News Corp Australia made a “higher contribution” to profits.

“Advertising revenues declined 8% compared to the prior year, of which $18m, or 2%, was related to the negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations,” the company told the stock exchange.

“The remainder of the decline was driven by weakness in the print advertising market and lower home delivered revenues, which include free-standing insert products, at News America Marketing, partially offset by growth in digital advertising revenues.”

Revenue from subscription TV, which includes Foxtel and the company’s new on-demand sports service Kayo, was down 13% or $342m, and about half the fall was because of currency movements.

“The remainder of the revenue decline was driven by the impact from lower broadcast subscribers and changes in the subscriber package mix, partially offset by higher revenues from Foxtel Now and Kayo,” News Corp said.

Chief executive, Robert Thomson, said the company finished the year “robustly”, with global revenue up 12%.

“We are acutely focused on simplifying the structure of the company and making clear the full value of the sum of our parts,” he said.

The company’s planned sale of its US coupon business News America Marketing was “progressing well”, he said.