In the year 2023, the conglomerate navigated its way back to profitability, recording a 5% upswing in group revenue that totalled €115 million. This upward shift was bolstered by reducing extraordinary expenses and recuperating lucrative returns from investments. The ledgers indicate a pre-tax profit of €2.1 million, a welcome contrast from the previous year’s pre-tax loss of €5 million.
The group’s operating deficit post extraordinary items was curbed to roughly €643,000 — a significant decrease compared to the €2.65 million deficit marked in 2022. This change was prompted by a 39% surge in third-party print contract revenues and a 14% uptick in digital subscription earnings along with the turnover scaling up €5.4 million from the proceeding year. The paid subscriptions currently tally around 130,000, an outcome of the continued growth from 2023 extending into 2024, inclusive of home delivery.
The Group’s Managing Director, Deirdre Veldon, acknowledged the marked improvements over the last year, in spite of media industry’s “myriad challenges”. Ongoing dips in print circulations and advertising, as well as the dominance of major tech firms in the online advertisement realm constitute these challenges.
According to Ms. Veldon, the group’s strategy has been to surge its digital revenues, chiefly via subscriptions. She envisages an evolution of the business model to garner over 50% of revenue from digital platforms, a significant uptick from the current 25%.
Despite an industry-wide downward trend, the group’s print circulation revenues increased by 4% due to the Government’s strategy to slash VAT on newspapers and digital editions to zero. Company expenditure on newsprint (paper), energy and professional fees saw a decrease in 2023 but this was balanced out by a hike in payroll, tech, home delivery, and newspaper production expenses.
An emphasis for 2024 has been to pare down these expenses, implemented as a part of their strategic initiative of voluntary severance to aim at personnel reduction and reinvestment towards key digital roles. The financial statements reveal €275,000 as the annual remuneration of both Ms Veldon and Ruadhán Mac Cormaic.
Shay Garvey, chairman of The Irish Times DAC, earned €67,000, whereas John Hegarty, chairman of The Irish Times Trust, earned €31,000. Despite recovering most of the €2.7 million losses from the 2022 dip, a financial increase of €2.3 million was noted for their investment portfolio last year. However, the net group cash dropped from €19.7 million to €16.6 million by the concluding month of 2023.
The group, which had an approximate average workforce of 859 in the preceding year, owns a plethora of media properties including the Irish Examiner in Cork, the digital estate platform MyHome.ie, several local news outlets, and a controlling stake in the radio station WLR FM. The southeast station Beat 102-103 was formerly owned by the group before its sale to Bauer Media Audio earlier this year. The month of August also witnessed an announcement by the group of their plans to gradually halt operations at The Irish Times Training subsidiary.
Following the close of the year 2023, the group has added RIP.ie to its acquisitions, a move that, according to the board, will help expand its digital presence. Another noteworthy purchase is the remaining 50 per cent stake in Gloss Publications, which had not yet been in their possession. Gloss Publications is behind the monthly distributed magazine ‘The Gloss’, which accompanies The Irish Times. The group’s spokesperson, Ms Veldon, hinted at the potential to circulate the magazine amongst other titles and also in a digital subscription package.
Ms Veldon also highlighted the looming threat of artificial intelligence (AI) to the group’s operations. The unknown influence of generative AI on the sector was recognised as a major risk in the directors’ report. Ms Veldon voiced the widespread fear among global publishers about AI functioning on reproduced content without making obligatory payments or attributions, a practice that could lead to the downfall of tradition media. However, she kept an optimistic tone, expressing belief in the group’s potential to adapt to audience requirements and the power of its brands.