High Court to rule on INM inspectors on Tuesday
INDEPENDENT News & Media (INM) will find out on Tuesday whether the High Court will appoint inspectors to examine the affairs of the group.
The company confirmed yesterday it has been notified that the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, will deliver judgment on Tuesday, September 4, at 2pm on the application brought by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), the State’s corporate watchdog.
The ODCE’s application was heard by at the High Court in July, with judgment then reserved.
Earlier yesterday, INM published financial results for the first half of 2018. The publisher of the Irish Independent,
‘Sunday Independent’ and other leading titles reported a reduced profit before tax of €11.5m for the first half of the year, in line with expectations. Revenue for the period was €95m, down 4.1pc compared to the first half of last year. The company’s cash pile stood at €89.4m at the end of the period.
The 22.8pc reduction in pre-tax profits compared to the first half of 2017 reflects declining sales and exceptional costs of €2.1m incurred in the first half of 2018.
That included €1.9m of exceptional legal costs primarily linked to the ODCE case.
Speaking after the results, INM chief executive officer Michael Doorly said the market had taken as positives that trading was in line with expectations for the first half and the company’s full year forecasts were unchanged.
Mr Doorly said it remained impossible to predict the costs of the ODCE process.
“We don’t know what Judge Kelly will decide. We don’t know that there will be an investigation. If there is, we don’t know the cost because we don’t know the scale,” he said.
The decline of 4.1pc in revenue was primarily due to a 10.5pc drop in advertising revenues and a circulation revenues decline of 6.2pc. It was offset in part by an increase in distribution revenues of 18.4pc. Publishing advertising revenues fell 12.4pc.
The group’s regional titles bucked the trend, with publishing advertising revenue up 1.1pc and circulation revenue increasing by 1.7pc.
In digital publishing, Mr Doorly said that the independent.ie digital platform will see a significant overhaul, likely including changes to the access model, though not necessarily a paywall.
Digital revenues were 2.9pc lower in the period than the same period of 2017, although pressure from Google and Facebook was partially offset by INM’s diversified offerings such as CarsIreland.ie which delivered double-digit revenue growth.
Forecasts for the full year remain unchanged, INM chairman Murdoch MacLennan said. “The group’s new strategy is also making progress and a new senior executive team has been put in place to support our group CEO, Michael Doorly, as he leads its implementation. Our balance sheet remains strong and we continue to explore new avenues to develop profitable revenue streams to support our core business,” he added.