Phone book firm Truvo records €10m loss

AN €8.5 million writedown in Truvo Ireland’s eircom phone book business contributed to the company recording a pre-tax loss of €10 million last year.

Truvo Ireland produces the Golden Pagesand eircom's phone directories. Accounts just filed with the Companies Office show revenues dropped 34 per cent from €54.8 million to €35.7 million in 2010, from €54.8 million a year earlier.

The company’s revenues have more than halved in the space of three years: revenues of €73.6 million were recorded in 2008.

The €10 million pre-tax loss sustained last year compared to a pre-tax profit of €7.6 million in 2009. The company’s post-tax loss was €8.89 million after a tax credit of €1.1 million.

In 2006, Truvo paid eircom €15 million to produce and distribute the eircom phone book for seven years to 2013.

As part of the deal, Truvo agreed to pay eircom a sum equal to 10 per cent of revenues invoiced and not less than €700,000 in any year of the deal. The deal gave Truvo the rights to sell adverts in the eircom phonebook pages.

However, the accounts state that the €8.5 million write-down represents the full impairment of the “production, distribution and advertising rights” arising from the eircom phonebook agreement.

The figures show that the numbers employed by the company last year dropped from 246 to 214 and the directors state that €2.72 million of the overall €11.2 million write-down “relates to severance costs associated with certain restructuring initiatives”.

The six regional print editions of the Golden Pagesclassified directory had a core circulation of 1.5 million copies, with the Dublin edition contributing 54 per cent of classified directory revenues in 2010. The loss sustained last year resulted in the firm's accumulated profits reducing to €60.9 million.

Truvo Ireland’s parent, the US-based Truvo Group, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November last year with a reorganisation plan in place.

The arrangement handed ownership of the company to senior lenders, including AIB. Under the plan, senior lenders own “substantially all” the equity of the Truvo Group. The figures show that emoluments to directors last year totalled €737,000, compared to €874,000 in 2009.