High Court appoints interim examiner to Sunday Business Post

An interim examiner has been appointed to The Sunday Business Post newspaper by the High Court.

Counsel for Post Publications Limited, the publisher of the paper, said it employs 76 people and has been loss making since 2009.

The paper was part of Thomas Crosbie Holdings which went into receivership yesterday. There have been several expressions of interest in investing in the newspaper, the court was told.

The court heard that the paper has seen its revenues fall to €7.3m in 2012 from €15.6m in 2007 as a result of the fall in advertising. Advertising revenues dropped 68% over that period, the court was told and the newspaper made a loss of €1.2m in 2012.

Judge Peter Kelly was told the newspaper was behind on its annual rent of €440,000 and owed arrears of €598,000.

The paper is also seeking to cut printing costs is and looking for up to 25 redundancies.

Judge Kelly said if the company was wound up there would be a deficit of €6.5m.

The paper's survival was dependent on funding from AIB and a reduction in the cost of printing.