Harmonia’s decision to sell six titles says much about state of print

The timing of Harmonia founder Norah Casey's decision to sell six magazine titles to the US publisher of Irish Central is interesting and, worryingly, not terribly propitious for the Irish consumer publishing industry.

Casey, a former star of RTE's Dragons' Den, has agreed to sell the bulk of her magazine empire to Irish Studio, which will take control of Irish Tatler, Irish Tatler Man, U magazine, Food & Wine magazine, Auto Ireland and Ireland of the Welcomes. Harmonia will continue to publish Woman's Way and retain its Planet Woman brand.

Buy why sell them now? Unemployment is hurtling towards its pre-crash trough, the Government is promising tax cuts, the Irish retail industry is expanding and consumer confidence is high. All of this means it is reasonable to predict that Ireland is on the cusp of another consumer boom.

Of all segments of the publishing industry, consumer publishers with middle class-friendly titles such as Irish Tatler should be well positioned in the print industry to take advantage of the relatively benign conditions.

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Why nurse such well-known consumer titles through such a difficult period (the last crash) for the brands it targets for advertising, only to let the titles go as soon as things were looking up?

Irish diaspora

In emailed correspondence, Casey would not be drawn on the consideration received from Irish Studio. Nor would she make herself available for interview. So one can only speculate about the price.

But in the moribund Irish print publishing market, Casey is unlikely to have received a jaw-droppingly high price.

The six former Harmonia titles will continue to be published as print publications in the Irish market. But Irish Studio, which last year bought Niall O'Dowd's Irish Central, will also roll them on to its digital publishing platform.

Perhaps it can wring further value from the titles by pushing them at the Irish diaspora in the United States. If this is the plan, the glossy Ireland of the Welcomes, which publishes every two months with a circulation of 21,300, looks its best bet.

Either way, when one of the best-known consumer publishers is letting go of its best assets on the cusp of a consumer boom, it says much about the gloom surrounding the print sector.