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Graham Hughes/RollingNews.ie

'Nobody's going away to the Bahamas': Celtic Media's sale to INM worth 'less than €4m'

The company’s boss today said the business model for newspapers was ‘broken’.

THE BUSINESS MODEL for newspapers is “broken” and the only hope for regional papers may be in consolidating with bigger industry players, Celtic Media’s boss has said.

The publisher’s chief executive, Frank Mulrennan, today added that his company – which publishes seven regional titles and employs around 100 staff – “cannot row against the digital tide” and replace lost revenues from evaporating print sales and advertising.

He was appearing in front of an Oireachtas committee investigating the proposed sale of Celtic Media to Independent News and Media (INM). The deal has cleared competition hurdles but still needs to be approved by the government under media-merger rules.

Mulrennan, a former business and agriculture editor at INM’s Irish Independent, said there would be “well less” than €4 million left for him and other owners of the publisher by the time the sale went through. The full price for the deal hasn’t been disclosed.

“Since 2008, the business model in local newspapers I would have to say is broken. We almost went out of business in 2012 due to the weight of bank debts and continually falling revenues,” he said.

“Five years, later the reality is that we are facing a broken business model in terms of publishing local newspapers and, dare I say it, newspapers.”

Mulrennan and other Celtic Media executives led a €5.5 million management buyout of the publisher in 2012, however he noted that regional publishers in Ireland had suffered a 65% fall in print advertising and 35% fall in circulation revenue since 2008.

Celtic Media_1 Celtic Media chief executive Frank Mulrennan

Concentrated ownership

Mulrennan joined INM chief executive Robert Pitt before the committee in defending the deal amid suggestions it would further concentrate media ownership in Ireland and could lead to a loss of editorial independence at the Celtic Media titles.

INM already owns the country’s highest-circulation daily and Sunday newspapers, the Independent and Sunday Independent, as well as national titles the Herald and Sunday World.

Its largest shareholder, Denis O’Brien, also owns Communicorp, whose stable of radio stations includes Newstalk and Today FM.

INM reportedly ran the rule over buying Newstalk last year, but balked at the deal – leading to a public boardroom spat between Pitt and company chairman Leslie Buckley.

Pitt today said his company, which is estimated to have a cash pile of more than €85 million, was “no longer” looking at buying radio stations on the island of Ireland.

Both he and Mulrennan claimed Celtic Media titles would be guaranteed their independence after the merger – although consolidation of some functions was likely.

90435747_90435747 INM's Pitt, left, and Buckley RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

Making it in digital

Mulrennan told the committee his company was “finding it awfully hard to make any news in digital” and it needed a larger partner like INM because of the competition online from the heavily subsidised RTÉ and global giants like Facebook and Google.

“The only future is through having a digital future and a marketing future, and that takes resources,” he said, adding that Celtic Media had put some properties on the market to pay a bridging loan ”because that sale has been so delayed”.

“We have put our Cavan and Navan newspaper offices on the market. We are going to put our Athlone office on the market.”

The company also had “serious misgivings” about the future of one of its titles, the free, Meath-based Forum, Mulrennan said.

“We are talking about a sale here that is less than €4 million. When you take off professional fees and (loan repayments) … well less. There’s nobody going away to the Bahamas, we’re turning up to work on Monday when the sale happens.”

The publishing group, which also includes the Meath Chronicle, the Westmeath Independent and Westmeath Chronicle among its titles, was put together for nearly €65 million in the early 2000s by a Scottish firm. Celtic Media bought the Connaught Telegraph out of liquidation in 2014.

Mulrennan remains the company’s largest shareholder, while one-quarter of its shares are owned by editors and other staff. Its latest accounts, to the end of 2014, show the parent company lost just over €100,000 for the 12-month period.

Written by Peter Bodkin and posted on Fora.ie

Read: ‘I got kicked out of my office, couldn’t afford my rent and moved home – but I knew I’d start again’

Read: Tesco staff are going on ‘indefinite’ strike over cuts to long-standing workers’ pay

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    Mute Fozz
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    May 13th 2016, 5:43 PM

    So what was the actual problem?!

    265
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    Mute Stephen murphy
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    May 13th 2016, 7:10 PM

    None, just lazy journalists creating stories.

    93
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    Mute Eamonn O'Riain
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    May 14th 2016, 5:07 AM

    Scribbled on a 9 to make it look like an 8, the Donegal b@$tards!!!

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    Mute Mark Jones
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    May 14th 2016, 6:27 AM

    With the addition of the extra two numbers the odds of winning are eleven million to two so the lotto is only won a maximum of eight times per year, lotto one & two maybe three times per year. So lotto definitely is a tax on people who are poor at maths.

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    Mute Frank Cauldhame
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    May 13th 2016, 5:53 PM

    Free publicity for the ailing lottery?

    More & more people are doing their numbers in the bookies these days since ownership of OUR national lottery changed hands and they made it even more difficult to win a substantive prize.

    212
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    Mute brian magee
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    May 13th 2016, 6:54 PM

    Any stats to back that up.

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    Mute Eddie Byrne
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    May 13th 2016, 7:44 PM

    Too true Frank much better payout for 2, 3 and 4 numbers in Ladbrooks i.e. €100 payout for a euro bet for 2 numbers on the Euromillions.

    56
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    Mute Cathal Leonard
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    May 13th 2016, 5:34 PM

    New operator tried to get out of paying. Plain and simple. Hope the winner enjoys it fair play.

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    Mute Ivorpabst
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    May 13th 2016, 6:59 PM

    On what basis ?

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    Mute andrew
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    May 13th 2016, 5:32 PM

    ‘issues has arisen surrounding the payment.’

    Glad everything has been sorted out. Puts the incessant grammatical mistakes here into perspective is suppose.

    55
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    Mute Les McQueen
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    May 13th 2016, 5:34 PM

    Lifes to shrt too bee corecting misteaks one da jurnal.

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    Mute Robert Flanagan
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    May 13th 2016, 5:59 PM

    None of us are immune to grammatical errors, or indeed, typos, as “Puts the incessant grammatical mistakes here into perspective is suppose” would attest to. I assume that you meant “…. into perspective, I suppose?”

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    Mute andrew
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    May 13th 2016, 6:09 PM

    Lol. Yip!

    Curse of the too-smart everywhere. BUT the mistake has been corrected.

    All the same, the standard of writing on The Journal is pretty low all round. The ‘Opinion Pieces’ rarely rise above Junior Cert essay level. The incessant typos and grammatical mistakes compound the impression that the site is not as well organised as it might be and that the quality of the writing isn’t really an issue for whoever runs it.

    That aside, the Polls are particularly poor (as is frequently pointed out). Whoever compiles them should take a course in how to put a basic poll together.

    30
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    Mute Daffy the Bear
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    May 13th 2016, 6:17 PM

    To be fair though, these “journalists” earn a crust from writing. I think the expectation that even the headlines of the articles are grammatically correct is not unreasonable. The whole effort seems amateurish..

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    Mute Les McQueen
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    May 13th 2016, 6:20 PM

    I agree with everything you type, but at the end of the day I see the journal.ie as a source of comedy ( with an agenda), and that’s ok. Just don’t take everything at face value. Except Mark Zuckerberg – he’s legit.

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    Mute Les McQueen
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    May 13th 2016, 6:21 PM

    @ Andrew. Wasn’t expecting a bear to jump in there.

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    Mute Paul Mc
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    May 13th 2016, 6:22 PM

    The lotto is a tax on fools.

    19
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    Mute Les McQueen
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    May 13th 2016, 6:23 PM

    Yeah, everyone in the know knows that blackjack is where the big money is made.

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    Mute Patrick McGrath
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    May 14th 2016, 6:04 PM

    I’d have to agree. The standard of English is poor. The “journalists” and most of the followers seem to have failed primary level English and confined their post-primary reading to page 3 in the Sun, “mate”. It’s progress of a kind though. 100 years after the 1916 Rising we’re now just illiterate in one language rather than two.

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    Mute Dermot Dooley
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    May 13th 2016, 6:08 PM

    Hope they dont hold out on my € 15 million after tonights draw.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    May 13th 2016, 11:22 PM

    Play the lotto and support Canadian pensioners…

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    Mute Marc Power
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    May 13th 2016, 6:06 PM

    Solicitors = opportunistic parasites

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    Mute Peter keogh
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    May 13th 2016, 7:05 PM

    Good luck with making a will or buying a house so

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    Mute Marc Power
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    May 13th 2016, 10:20 PM

    Do it myself mate. ..hate those filth bags

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    Mute Brianog2
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    May 13th 2016, 5:40 PM

    I’m sure solicitor is pleased..maybe “Argues and Fibs” company no pun intended

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    Mute СIΔЯΔИ FΔЯЯΞLLY
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    May 13th 2016, 5:53 PM

    If there’s anymore problems with paying the money, I’ll gladly accept it.

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    Mute Pat Gorman
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    May 13th 2016, 5:48 PM

    “Issues” normally equals “crooks”.
    There are issues with your tax returns Mister Trump.

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    Mute Mike O Connor
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    May 14th 2016, 12:36 AM

    This is a private does to the charity. Trying to cut corners and sneeky tactic to not pay the winner. Along with the thousands that have lost out in funding. i.e. social and sports clubs.

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