‘Irish Daily Mail’ parent sees profit rise as staff numbers drop

Profits at the parent company of the Irish Daily Mail and its sister paper, the Irish Mail on Sunday, increased by 5.9 per cent to €2.08 million in the financial year to October 2nd, 2016.

Accounts recently filed with the companies office for Associated Newspapers (Ireland) limited show the company’s turnover in 2016 was €17.35 million, also up marginally on the previous year.

Associated Newspapers (Ireland), which is ultimately owned by Viscount Rothermere, employed an average of 137 staff in the 12-month period, down from 142 the previous year.

Wages and salary costs for that period dropped by 3.5 per cent to €9.25 million.

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A note in the accounts signalled positivity for the company’s future trading arrangements: “The directors therefore have a reasonable expectation that the company will have access to adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.”

At the time the accounts were filed, the company’s creditors were owed more than €14 million, €12.2 million of which was owed to group undertakings. However, the total amount owed was down by almost 5 per cent on the previous year.

Directors’ remuneration continued the trend noted in the previous set of accounts and dipped in the period to October 2nd, 2016. Total remuneration for the four directors was €603,000, down 9.5 per cent on the previous year.

Circulation figures for the six months to the end of December 2016 for the Irish Daily Mail showed the paper had an average daily readership of 42,081. The Irish Mail on Sunday had a circulation of 79,394.

Aside from the newspaper brands, Associated Newspapers also owns Evoke.ie, a website focusing on celebrity and fashion news.