Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH), owner of the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Business Post, has reversed its 2002 losses and posted a pre-tax profit of €6.2 million for 2003.
A stronger performance from its quoted investments and buoyant advertising revenue helped the company reverse a pre-tax loss of €857,594 in 2002 and post the 2003 profit.
Turnover was up from €64 million to €75 million. Dividends paid to the controlling Crosbie family increased significantly in the year to December 28th, 2003.
Directors' remuneration totalled €631,867, compared to €560,348 in 2002. The accounts list six directors, five members of the Crosbie family plus group managing director Mr Anthony Dinan.
The group said it was in a good position regarding acquisitions. Mr Dinan said: "We have put together a healthy war chest that will enable us to compete for any suitable media assets coming on to the market in the short to medium term."
He said that while the company purchased the London-based Irish Post in 2003, it was not looking at buying any further overseas assets.
He added that the company's war chest was significant and could also be supported by bank finance if the right opportunity came along.
He said the 2003 results included the first full year's contribution from the Sunday Business Post, which was now profitable. TCH was very pleased with the decision to purchase the title from Trinity Mirror, he said.
In relation to 2004, Mr Dinan said the company hoped to improve on the 2003 results. He said 16 local and provincial newspapers were still independently owned and TCH might be interested in some of those, as well as radio assets. "We would have a preference for newspaper assets, but radio cannot be ruled out."
While administrative expenses rose from €16 million to almost €21 million, the company managed to post a 155 per cent increase in operating profits, up from €2.1 million to €5.5 million. Under exceptional items the company reported a €1 million gain for 2003, compared to a loss in 2002 of €3.2 million.
The gain in 2003 mainly related to an improvement in investments and a sharp drop in re- organisation costs.
The company posted an after-tax profit of €5.2 million, compared to an after-tax loss of more than €1 million in 2002. The retained profit for the year was €2.2 million.
There was a notable increase in dividend payments in 2003. In 2002 these amounted to €1.3 million and increased in 2003 to over €3 million. Dividends were paid to various members of the Crosbie family, a spokesman said.
The company's payroll costs rose from €28.5 million to €30.7 million in the period. This was despite a fall in employee numbers from 725 to 705. Debt was reduced from €8.2 million to €7.7 million.
TCH also owns the Evening Echo, the Irish Post, the Waterford News & Star, the Western People, the Sligo Weekender, the Kingdom, the Newry Democrat, the Down Democrat, the Nationalist and Leinster Times, the Kildare Nationalist, the Laois Nationalist and the Roscommon Herald.
