INM in sunny mood after exiting Australia

The new management at Independent News & Media (INM) will be in a sunny mood this morning, having disposed of its 18.6 per cent stake in Australian and New Zealand group APN News & Media overnight. Proceeds from the sale mean it has now cleared the last €115 million of its total borrowings.

Back in 2012, INM had a worryingly high €420 million in net debt on its books. A deal with its banks in 2013 effectively cut its debts by two-thirds, and included the sale of its operations in South Africa.

Indeed, getting back “on a solid financial footing”, as the company phrases it, has involved shrinking the company, jettisoning the overseas empire of interests built up during Sir Anthony O’Reilly’s reign at the company.

INM this morning described the sale of its remaining equity stake in APN - which was reduced last year - as “pivotal”, but it is not unexpected. Disposing of the interest would have been on its agenda during former chief executive Vincent Crowley’s management of INM and Crowley is understood to have continued to work closely on relations between the group and APN.

Robert Pitt, chief executive since October 2014, now has retained cash that can be used to invest in the transition of the business to a more modern media group. His company is likely to consider cutting costs associated with print publishing while expanding on the digital side.

INM, which published its financial results last Friday, saw advertising revenues grow last year for the first time since 2007, but it is digital advertising income that is the real performer, increasing at a rate of 37.5 per cent.

Under the terms of its deal with its lenders, it was bound by certain restrictions on acquisitions and capital expenditure. But with its deleveraging “categorically completed”, it will now be in the market to buy up other specialist digital companies that can help it grow this side of the business further and faster.