INDEPENDENT NEWS & Media (IN&M) might have offloaded its London titles yesterday but chief executive Gavin O'Reilly made it clear this week that the company continues to support loss-making the Sunday Tribune, where it has a 29.9 per cent stake.
Latest accounts for Tribune Newspapers show it made a loss of more than €5 million in 2008. Revenues declined by 15.7 per cent and the shareholders deficit topped €50 million. IN&M had provided €15.27 million in loans to that point.
Latest circulation figures show the Tribune's sales declined in the second half of 2009 by 9.5 per cent year on year to 60,344.
Questions have been raised about IN&M’s long-term commitment to the Dublin paper, especially in light of criticisms levelled last year by Denis O’Brien about underperforming assets.
But O'Reilly this week said INM was "very happy" with its investment in the Tribune.
"We're an investor in the Tribuneand we're a happy investor at this point," Mr O'Reilly told the press at a briefing in Dublin on Wednesday to announce its 2009 results. "Obviously it's got its own board and its own governance. Where we sit with our investment, it certainly has a good future. It has a very loyal readership."
Separately, IN&M has confirmed it would start charging for online access to content from its 13 paid-for Irish regional titles, which includes the Sligo Champion and the Drogheda Independent.
“It will be interesting to see how willing customers are to pay for content,” group chief operating officer Vincent Crowley said.
