INM grapples with challenging media outlook

“Challenging” is the usual euphemism for “painfully difficult” in corporate earnings announcements. And no matter how upbeat the Independent News & Media of 2016 might be relative to its recent debt-burdened past, there’s no escaping the word.

The “existing challenging market conditions” in the media industry are set to continue in the coming year, concluded chief executive Robert Pitt’s statement to investors.

At a press briefing, Pitt outlined INM’s plans for both print and digital media acquisitions in Ireland and mentioned it had appointed unnamed advisers in the UK. It’s a sign of confidence. But he also cautioned that there were “still headwinds” and “still an awful lot of work ahead”.

INM, now a much smaller company after the disposal of its international assets, seems intent on mitigating the decline in the Irish print market by growing its share of it and making the most of its scale. Before it touches any print titles, it will obviously do its sums on operating costs and how to cut them.

Since it first signalled it was back in the market last year, INM’s only outlay has been last week’s purchase of four Northern Ireland magazines (three trade and business titles and one consumer title) from the Belfast-based Greer Publications.

It clearly expects that other acquisition opportunities, large and small, will fall into its lap by dint of the commercial struggles of media companies that don’t have the same financial resources it does.

There will be the small matter of securing regulatory and ministerial clearance for any acquisitions it does make. With Denis O’Brien as its largest shareholder, the idea that INM wants to add to its portfolio is bound to attract political attention. But commercial viability will be a factor in regulatory decisions too.

Making money from digital businesses, as INM found to its cost with coupon venture GrabOne, isn’t just a matter of buying up the latest hot company. There is always a risk that consumers will move on while the ink on a deal is still wet.

Money often lags the eyeballs. While its digital audience is growing, Pitt noted that advertising revenues were not migrating to mobile quite as fast as its readers. So none of this is easy. Still, a recent series of positive notes on the company from Davy Research, which acts as its stockbroker, must have made pleasant reading?

“It would be great if the share price followed what they said,” said Pitt. “It is up to the market to decide if they want to invest in the business and reap the rewards of that.”