INM warns of difficult trading after revealing €152.3m first-half total loss

Independent News & Media has reported a total loss of €152.3m for the first six months of 2012 and has warned that early trading in the second half of the year points to a continuation of the difficult conditions seen in the first half.

Yesterday’s interim results — the loss was up from a figure of €17.7m for the first half of last year — also showed a 4.4% year-on-year fall in group revenue to €272.2m, a 22.6% drop in first-half EBITDA to €39.1m and a 26.4% fall in operating profit, before exceptional items, to €25.4m. Net exceptional charges — relating to non-cash impairments on properties, charges relating to its Australian operations and a €7.2m restructuring charge relating to redundancies — amounted to €163.7m and were up from €40.1m for the same period last year.

“The first half of 2012 offered no respite from the difficult trading conditions in which INM operates,” said INM’s chief executive Vincent Crowley, adding that weak economic conditions — in Ireland and South Africa — continued to play a part. He pointed out, however, that operating costs fell by €3.3m and net debt was further reduced.