13th Mar 2015 09:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - Independent News & Media PLC on Friday reported a massive fall in pretax profit for 2014 on the non-recurrence of a one-off gain it made last year from the restructuring of its finances, but said pretax profit did increase when exceptional items were stripped out.
The Dublin-based media company, which publishes The Irish Independent and the Belfast Telegraph newspapers among other titles, said its pretax profit from continuing operations in 2014 was EUR8.1 million, down from the EUR253.7 million it posted a year earlier. The 2013 figure was given a big boost by a EUR148.7 million one-off gain made from the restructuring of the company's finances.
Stripping out exceptional items, pretax profit rose to EUR38 million from EUR25.5 million a year earlier.
Revenue fell slightly to EUR318.7 million from EUR322.4 million, with circulation revenue falling 2% and offsetting advertising revenue growth of 0.8%. The growth in advertising revenue was driven by a 38% increase in digital advertising growth, which offset a fall in publishing advertising revenue.
The company is not proposing a dividend for 2014.
"Despite the many challenges facing our industry, the group businesses submitted a strong performance in 2014. There was a significant focus on ensuring that the group's titles and hugely successful digital offering are both aligned and calibrated to meet the continued challenges facing news publishing both now and throughout the cycle," said Chief Executive Robert Pitt.
Shares in Independent News & Media were up 2.2% at the open on Friday at EUR0.172.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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