Confidence at Independent Newspapers on growth trends

Growth in its Internet business, a recovery in the New Zealand market and a major restructuring programme would help Independent Newspapers achieve double-digit growth this year, chairman Dr Tony O'Reilly told the company's annual general meeting yesterday.

He said the company was set to make a major move into the electronic media market and hoped to have the number one Internet "portal" site (an access point to several web-sites) in all its markets shortly.

As part of this strategy, its shareholders approved a resolution changing the name of the company to Independent News & Media.

Speaking to reporters after the annual general meeting, Mr Liam Healy said that, as part of the developing electronic media market, the company was not looking to sell its cable subsidiary, Princes Holdings, and wanted instead to "build up the telephony" side of that business.

He said this included its application for a wireless local loop licence - which allows companies to offer telecommunication services while by-passing Telecom Eireann's local network. He said the company was increasing the number of services it was offering over the Internet, especially in Australia, where personal finance web-sites were proving extremely popular. "There is a lot of hype in this area, but we have the content in all the countries we operate in," he said.

While the worldwide picture was improving, he said the situation in South Africa, where the company has extensive newspaper interests, continued to stagnate.

In relation to Britain, Mr Healy said the group was satisfied with the progress being made at the London Independent newspaper and circulation was now showing a rise. "We intend to bring it back to where it was in the late 1980s," he said. He stated that despite criticism, the company believed it would get a return on its investment.

In relation to the Republic, Mr Gavin O'Reilly, the managing director of Independent Newspapers Ireland, said he wanted to see a 10 per cent reduction in "headcount" and other cost savings, which are part of the worldwide restructuring programme He said negotiations with unions on this were "progressing".

He said it was important to realise that all redundancies would be voluntary. He said the question of a "five-day week" for journalists at some of the company's titles was "not an issue" in the current discussions.

Mr Healy said the company had "selected" a site for its new Irish printing plant in Dublin, but refused to reveal its location. He said, however, that an announcement would be made in the coming months. He declined to specify the cost of the facility, but Mr O'Reilly said such a plant would normally cost about £40 million.