Pre-tax losses at the Irish arm of media distribution group EM News fell slightly last year due to cost-cutting measures at the company.

The group, a joint venture between UK-based John Menzies and Eason, instigated new cost-cutting measures last year which involved a number of redundancies.

As a result, the company which distributes British newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, the Sunday Times and Hello!, had an “exceptional administrative expense” of €1,523,283 for redundancy and restructuring costs.

The pre-tax loss for the financial year up to December 31st, 2011, totalled €1.47 million, compared to €1.48 million the previous year.

The company said that despite challenging times, it had generated a small profit before exceptional expenses of €54,000, compared to a loss of €1.48 million the previous year.

Turnover at the group was also down, falling from €120.5 million in 2010 to €117.1 million last year.

However, staff costs at the company also fell, down from €4.21 million in 2010 to €4.13 million last year. “The continuing recessionary climate and the steady migration of news sources away from print towards online media represented significant challenges to the business in 2011.”

The resulting year-on-year decline was accentuated by the demise of the News of the World, EM News said.