'Athlone Voice' board urgently seeks fresh funds

The board of the Athlone Voice has initiated an urgent search for a fresh round of investment in the Co Westmeath-based paper amid a deterioration in its financial position.

While the weekly tabloid was published as usual last Tuesday, its directors and backers are believed to have met this week to discuss means of securing new investment.

It was unclear last night whether the current backers of the paper were prepared to advance a further round of funding to it. According to informed sources, the directors have set themselves a very tight deadline by which they must raise new money for the business.

The paper was published for the first time in September 2003 with an initial print run of 10,000. Its board includes former Sunday Business Post chief executive Barbara Nugent, who is a backer of Village magazine.

The original backers of the Athlone Voice include businessman Terry MacManus and the public relations consultant and broadcaster, Conall Ó Móráin.

Mr Ó Móráin did not reply to calls last night. The latest Companies Office records for its publisher, Midmedia Ltd, indicate that BOI Venture Capital Ltd, a unit of Bank of Ireland, has a significant stake in the business.

While Anglo Irish Nominees Ltd and Pegasus Nominees Ltd also hold significant stakes in the business, it is unclear who those nominees are. The same Companies Office records indicate that Mr Ó Móráin has a minority stake in the business, in addition to Mr MacManus.

Both Mr Ó Móráin and Mr MacManus were founding directors of the company in December 2002, although both stood back from the board in March 2003, some six months before the paper was launched.

In addition to Ms Nugent, the current board includes a former Sunday Business Post director of advertising, Deirdre Hughes, Athlone-based accountant Paul Cantwell, and Ms Margaret Broderick. Ms Hughes is the founding chief executive of the paper. Mr Cantwell is a director of Athlone accounting firm Russell Brennan Keane.

The latest abridged accounts for Midmedia Ltd indicate that the company had some €389,303 in cash in the bank at the end of 2003 and net assets of €393,337 at that time. The profit and loss account showed a deficit of €507,255 at that time.