Newspaper group founder subject of court orders

THE High Court has made orders restricting the founder of a group of regional newspapers from holding directorships of companies for a period of five years unless certain capital requirements are met.

The orders were made yesterday by Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe against John Sheils, who set up Voice Provincial Newspapers in 2006, after finding he had not acted in a responsible manner in his role as a director.

The firm, with a registered address in Co Kilkenny, employed 31 people and published 10 regional titles. It ceased publication in December 2008 and went into liquidation in February 2009 as a result of a slump in advertising revenues.

The company’s liquidator, Kieran Wallace of KPMG, sought restriction orders against Mr Sheils under Section 150 of the Companies Act. The court heard that while it was not being suggested that Mr Sheils acted dishonestly, it was claimed he had not acted in a responsible manner in relation to his role as a director.

Lawyers on behalf of Mr Sheils opposed the application on grounds, including that he was effectively sidelined after a firm controlled by developer and businessman Niall Mellon invested €4 million in the group and placed a management team to run the company.

Counsel for Mr Wallace said the orders were being sought on grounds including that the company had failed to keep statutory books, accounts and records, there was a failure to take minutes of any board meetings, failure to prepare annual accounts and that there was a failure to appoint a second director to the company for a period of more than 12 months.

The court also heard that there was a failure by the company to file a return. The Revenue Commissions were owed more than €300,000 when the firm when into liquidation.