Independent News and Media (IN&M) has reported a 12.4 per cent increase in operating profits for the half year and has warned it will fight any attempt by the Daily Mail group to introduce new products into the Irish market. Emmet Oliver reports.
The company yesterday reported a 9.2 per cent increase in turnover, from €733 million to €801 million, with operating profit (before exceptionals) up from €125 million to €141 million. The company said tight cost control in the first half helped operating margins to increase to 17.6 per cent, from 17.1 per cent.
Chief executive Sir Anthony O'Reilly said the group remained confident it could deliver double-digit growth for the full year. The company benefited in the first half from several exceptional items, including a net gain of €62.7 million from the sale of a stake in iTouch.
This was partly offset by the redundancy and other costs associated with the closure of the Sunday World print and production facility and new product launches in Belfast and South Africa.
Pretax profits increased by 80.6 per cent to €140.7 million and aftertax profits were up 81.7 per cent to €124 million. Earlier this week the company refinanced its core bank facilities, extending the maturity of its bank debt to 2010.
Chief operating officer Gavin O'Reilly said the company would not be scrapping its broadsheet Irish Independent. He said printing a compact and broadsheet format had no cost implications for the company.
The press conference announcing the results also concentrated heavily on the reported Dublin launch of a new Metro freesheet newspaper by the Daily Mail group. Mr O'Reilly claimed The Irish Times would also be investing in the product.
He said any Metro product was most likely to hurt The Irish Times because of its high ABC1 readership. He said The Irish Times could "jeopardise" its commercial prospects by investing in such a project.
However he added: "From our perspective this is wonderful, wonderful pub chat and rather exciting for all of you working in the Irish media. But to be honest this is a local skirmish, insignificant in terms of business."
Despite this he said the company would meet any threat from the Daily Mail group head on and anyone who believed IN&M would not was "self delusional".
