Thomas Crosbie reports losses

MEDIA GROUP Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH), the owner of the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Business Post, has reported operating losses of €2.95 million for 2009 and written down the value of its brands by €30.1 million.

Restructuring costs at the Cork-based group, including the brand impairment charge, arrived at €32.2 million, as staff numbers fell from 802 to 711 during what was a tough year for the media sector.

As advertising revenue plummeted and circulation came under pressure, the group’s turnover fell 22 per cent to €82.5 million, down from €106 million.

The operating losses before interest and tax of €2.95 million compare with a loss of €76,000 the previous year.

The group also said its share of losses in associated companies had widened to €1.7 million last year, compared to a profit of €60,000 in 2008.

The remuneration of directors was €1 million, down from €1.3 million the previous year.

A dividend of €1.12 million was paid to shareholders, down from €3.83 million in 2008.

TCH’s interim chief executive Tom Murphy said 2009 had been “a very difficult year for the media industry in Ireland”, with advertising revenues declining “fundamentally” across all sectors and titles.

Mr Murphy said TCH, which also owns several regional newspaper titles and radio stations, expected to be loss-making in 2010. He added it would return to profit in 2011 as a result of “savings achieved on headcount reduction, pay and other operating cost reductions”, as well as the sale of loss-making minority investments.

“These operating losses and the investment in cost reduction programmes are being funded out of TCH’s own cash reserves.”

Workers at the Irish Examinerand Evening Echonewspapers were told in September that they faced a 10 per cent reduction in pay and a cut of as much as 50 per cent in their pensions as a result of a €20 million deficit in the company's defined benefit pension scheme.

During 2010, TCH has also sought two rounds of pay cuts at the Sunday Business Post.

“Media, which is an early indicator of the overall health of the economy, has to restructure its cost base to the levels of business available to it and prepare its products and people for the upturn that is around the corner,” said TCH chairman Alan Crosbie.