The most recent accounts for the business, filed this week, show revenue in 2023 was €8.35m, down from €8.6m a year earlier. Losses increased from €359,000 in 2022 to well over half a million euro in 2023.
The accounts show that one-off redundancy expenses had a significant impact in both years. Redundancy costs in 2023 added up to €163,743. In 2022 the total costs of what is described as an editorial restructuring including redundancies and professional fees had been €210,000.
Following the latest annual loss, the accounts for Post Publications show a shareholders’ deficit of €2.6m at the end of 2023. Directors note in their report that the business has the support of a parent company – Business Post Group – and its parent, Dun Aengus Investments.
The strategy involves shifting from single-copy newspaper sales to selling bundles of digital subscriptions
In a section on future developments, the accounts record that Swedish media business Bonnier News AB made a strategic minority equity investment into the parent Business Post Group in 2023 controlled by businessman Enda O’Coineen. That was made with the objective of accelerating the parent company’s shift to building an integrated media platform around the Business Post brand, it said.
At the Business Post title itself, the company said it is looking to address continuing decline in print media by transitioning its weekly Sunday newspaper that targets a consumer market of readers to a business information and news service focused on a business-to-business (B2B) audience.
“The strategy involves shifting from single-copy newspaper sales via retail to selling bundles of digital subscriptions directly to corporate clients,” it says.
The wider Business Post Group now includes the Red C market research business and an events arm, iQuest, among other strands. Earlier this month, Business Post Group struck a deal with University College Cork (UCC) and the Irish Management Institute (IMI) to buy the IMI.
The IMI was established in 1952 to provide leadership courses and executive education for member businesses that traditionally included many of Ireland’s largest employers, including the big banks and semi-state enterprises.
UCC took control of the institute in 2016 in a €20m deal that was described as being aimed at securing the Dublin institute’s future as well as bolstering the university’s engagement with industry.
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