Seven West Media has confirmed its group chief financial officer Peter Lewis will be leaving the media giant at the end of April.

The departure comes in the wake Seven West Media last month announcing a $109m loss in the first half of the financial year, despite recording profits of $142m, because of write-downs of assets including magazines and Yahoo7.

Lewis, a key member of the company’s management team who has been with Seven for 15 years, joined the company in 1998 and was appointed CFO of Seven West Media in April 2011.

Prior to that he was head of business affairs for the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation.

Lewis, who was also President of Group of 100 Inc between 2009 and 2011, has previously held high-profile financial management positions for media companies including Network Ten and Galaxy Media.

In a statement Seven West Media thanked Lewis for his service and wished him well in the future, while it also confirmed the search for a new CFO has commenced.

In the interim, Warwick Lynch, Seven Media Group’s CFO, will serve as acting CFO until Lewis’ replacement can be appointed.