Regional publisher Johnston Press has sold its 14 newspapers in the Republic of Ireland for more than £100m less than it paid for them nine yeas ago.
The media group confirmed it has accepted a cash offer £7.2m from Iconic Newspapers Ltd, owned by advertising executive Malcolm Denmark.
Johnston Press paid around £115m to acquire the titles in 2005 but chief executive Ashley Highfield has now made clear his intention to focus on its UK operations.
The 14 newspapers, which include the Limerick Leader, Donegal Democrat and Kilkenny People, collectively made an operating profit of around 1.3m euros in the past year.
Said Ashley: “The disposal of our trade and assets in the Republic of Ireland will increase our ability to focus on the growth of our business in the United Kingdom and in particular our digital initiatives, in line with our stated strategy.
“We believe that it is in the Group’s best interests to dedicate our resources to these opportunities.
I would like to thank the staff of our Irish business for their loyalty and dedication over the years and we wish them well for a successful future.”
Johnston’s newspapers in Northern Ireland, such as the Derry Journal and the Ballymena Times, are not included in the sale.
Thr Irish Times reported that Mr Denmark announced the news while attending an awards ceremony as the guest the Limerick Leader.
He said: “I feel lucky and privileged to have bought the Limerick Leader. It has come back into private hands. The Limerick Chronicle is the oldest paper in Ireland and I think it is a title that is very important to what we want to do,” Mr Denmark said.
“We want to get more involved in and re-engage with the communities where more investment is needed,” he added.
“It’s really important that we are not part of a corporate group. I am not trying to bring an English solution to Ireland.”
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I don’t know whether to laugh or sob in despair at the bungling ineptitude of these newspaper ‘managers.’ This really does underline how incompetent they were at running a media business..
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Johnsons business plan …
Buy a good going title well respected for it’s news content.
Implement Johnsons policy of free content grab, sack the photographers, break freelance photographer weekend cover, beg twitter pictures, use drag and drop PA blurb stories, watch it go south and sell at a huge loss whilst the bean counters wonder who they can blame at the tiles for the downfall.
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“I am not trying to bring an English solution to Ireland.” Let’s hope so.
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GOOD RIDDANCE…Don’t come back!!! There be no tears shed on this side of the Irish sea! Not only did JP cripple themselves in entering the Irish market, they leave a trail of destruction in their wake!
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Shocking loss on these businesses, even though they were bought when the market was at an all-time high and the banks were throwing money at JP. If Denmark is sensible, he’ll allow some of the existing management team to lead the business forward. They know and understand the markets and what can be achieved.
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There’s only one word needed – Ouch!
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Looking forward to the comments from Tim Bowdler and Danny Cammiade about this. Surely these former, exceptionally well remunerated, titans of the regional newspaper industry will have something to say about this. Let’s hear from you!
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Sold for a nice profit then? How much did they pay for them, was it around the £100m mark?
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£115m was about what JP paid for Leinster Leader group, they also paid similar for the Score Press titles which are part of the sale. So the loss is even greater. Think the timing of the sale is really poor for JP, as market about to improve, however JP were not focused on keeping these titles close to their communities, so they’re probably better off with the new owners.
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But we forget that although Johnston Press no longer owns the Irish titles it will always have the memories of the good times, and of course the sky-high interest payments on the still-colossal debt.
No one can take that away from them.
And, no doubt this and the millions (though still in the single figures), quite literally dribbling in from property sales will somehow manage to hide another year’s losses.
Stand by for the start of the fire sale this side of the Irish Sea!
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Yet another sad indictment of Johnston Press management. As ‘beenthere’ highlights, what really grates here is how well financially the people responsible for this debacle did out of these types of deals. What happened to accountability ?
I hope for the sake of these titles Malcolm Denmark, who has never run a newspaper, knows what he’s doing. Good luck to him.
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Need any good representation Malcolm?
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Very true Incredulous! They waltzed out the door with their bank balance overflowing. Malcolm Denmark may never have run a newspaper but surely could do no worse.. It was apparent very early into JP’s tenure that they hadn’t a clue.
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“Johnston Press paid around £115m to acquire the titles in 2005……the media group confirmed it has accepted a cash offer £7.2m.”
This is laughable. Anyone responsible going to get fired?
That’s a total loss in value of more than £11m a year. Almost £1m a month of operation.
This has nothing to do with economic downturn and everything to do with inept senior management.
And we wonder why the entire industry is dying on its rear end.
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To wtf: They’re not going to get fired. They’ve already left with massive payoffs, as I mentioned in my earlier post. And, believe it or not, Tim Bowdler also picked up a CBE for services to the newspaper industry. Still waiting for your comments, Tim and Danny. Don’t be shy!
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They paid a lot more than £115 million…… Leinster Leader Group for €139m plus a similar amount for Score Press. Not to mention the c. €2m for South Tipp Today…a small freesheet. Then there was the first round of redundancies which, after a Labour Court ruling, cost a packet…JP’s initial offer was 2 weeks per year of service and concluded as 6 weeks including statutory. Following that came many more closures and redundancies not to mention ill fated glossy magazines etc etc etc. The list goes on and on…..total investment will never be disclosed but it must easily exceed £300m!!!!!…..during all this, managers who know what they were doing got the sack and ‘managers’ put in place who were clueless…laughable!
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JP Please please please sell Morton Newspapers ASAP
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