Joe’s Second Coming
Niall McGarry blazed a digital trail with Joe.ie. Too much reliance on debt has led to UK investors taking control, writes Siobhán O’Connell
Joe.ie, the ambitious Irish digital media venture, has passed out of Irish ownership to management by a UK plc that until recently was involved in stem-cell research. It’s an unfortunate outcome for a national trailblazer, though another Irish media asset that changed hands recently will still be controlled in Dublin.
Joe Media, the UK subsidiary of Joe.ie parent company Maximum Media Network, was acquired out of administration by Greencastle Capital, where the principal is David Sefton. Greencastle has also acquired MMN’s business in Ireland, subject to regulatory clearance.
In 2005, Sefton founded Linton Capital, which provides funding and consultancy services, primarily in the oil and gas exploration space. Last year his interest turned to AIM-listed WideCells Group, a loss-making venture in stem-cell research and insurance that booked a loss of £6.3m in the 18 months to June 2019.
Sefton took control of WideCells in February 2019 and pivoted the plc to digital media. The venture was renamed Iconic Labs and made its first acquisition in September 2019, the intellectual property of Gay Star News. This was picked up for £33,000 and Iconic Labs’ turnover for H2 2019 was £2,500.
Sefton is no longer chairman of Iconic Labs and he has delegated to Iconic Labs the management and development of the Joe platforms. The experienced digital media people at the Iconic helm are directors Liam Harrington and John Quinlan. Harrington was in charge at Unilad, one of the UK’s most popular destinations for UK lads, until it went into administration in 2018.
Founded by Niall McGarry in 2010, Joe is also lads-focused across multiple digital platforms, majoring in tech, sport, casual news and entertainment for the 18-30 age cohort. There’s also a sister site for the female demographic, Her.ie. McGarry cleverly used video, podcasts and live events to provide advertisers with a range of branded content opportunities.
McGarry expanded into the UK with Joe in 2015 and found rapid traction, growing to multiple websites that focus on sports, lifestyle, politics and family.
Expansion was funded through €3.1m equity from EIIS investors and €3.9m debt finance from BMS Finance, with a 12% interest coupon, according to filed accounts for 2018. Turnover that year was €6m, the company booked a loss of €1m, and yearend liabilities amounted to €9.7m.
The company had a setback in 2019 when it emerged that ‘click farms’ had been used to inflate listenership for an AIB-sponsored podcast. This dented advertising support for a while and then came Covid-19. BMS Finance took fright and in May 2020 went to court to secure the appointment of an examiner.
Harrington stated that he saw potential for developing the Her brand’s bridal and wedding credentials. If so, Iconic Labs will be up against a much larger player in the form of DMG Media. The publisher of the Irish Daily Mail recently acquired OneFabDay.com from founders Naoise McNally and Susan Gallagher. The business has c.300 advertising clients, does a good trade in sponsored content and claims 164,000 Pinterest followers.
DMG chief executive Paul Henderson commented: “OneFabDay is an iconic brand and the addition of Ireland’s premier wedding site to our portfolio means that we now reach over 90% of Irish women through all life stages and through their most important life events.”