Ind.news Share Price (INM)

News reports in Dublin suggest INM is seeking to reduce its bank debt by at least 100 million, through a combination of debt-for-equity swaps by banks, major-shareholder loans and possibly a rights issue, on top of the sale of south african interests. Some contribution to the pension deficit may also be involved. Given that the equity is currently valued around 30 million, there will clearly be shareholder dilution of the order of 4- or 5-to-1, no matter how the cookie crumbles. On the other hand, 20% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

APN Chairman Peter Cosgrove said: "The structural changes to media together with the weak advertising markets have impacted the results. Work has been done to reposition the business and we are seeing encouraging improvements. We have also been disciplined in reducing costs while investing in growth where appropriate. "Australian Radio Network, Adshel and GrabOne all delivered good performances in 2012, with strong increases in revenue, earnings and market share. These results have been achieved in a difficult environment. "Our publishing divisions are pushing through extensive change agendas which have been well received by our audiences and are gaining traction with advertisers. Cost reduction programs delivered A$25m in savings in 2012 with another A$25m reduction expected this year."

APN News & Media, the company in which Independent News & Media has a 28.95 per cent shareholding, has revealed a fall in revenue in the full year ending December 31st. In a financial update issued on Thursday, APN News & Media reported that revenue was down to (AU)$929m from $1,072.4m a year earlier while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were down 25% to AU$156m. Net profit after tax before exceptional items was AU$54m, in line with guidance. The group reported that the revenue decline came from the deconsolidation of APN Outdoor following the formation of a joint venture with Quadrant Private Equity. Continuing operations revenue up year-on-yearRevenue from continuing operations was up 2.0% to AU$857m and EBITDA from continuing operations was down 14%.

The company stated that it is in the process of appointing a search firm to assist in the selection of a Chief Executive Officer and additional board members. INM publishes newspapers in Ireland, Northern Ireland and South Africa. APN has a portfolio of media asserts across Australia and New Zealand.

The proposal was to launch the capital raising with Macquarie Capital as the sole underwriter, at the time of the full year results announcement. Preparation for the capital raising had been supported by all Directors and had been under discussion for several months although the timing and final decision to proceed had not been agreed. The INM update stated that while the board had agreed the company needed to reduce its debt, it was unable to agree on the methodology. "The departing directors believed that a capital raising should be undertaken at the time the company announces its full year results. This would have been in conjunction with a continued focus on repositioning the publishing businesses and potential asset sales. Other directors believe that consideration of an equity raising should be undertaken in a time frame that allowed other options to be pursued." INM and its major shareholder together with Allan Gray, representing approximately 51% of APN's shares, have unequivocally indicated they are opposed to a capital raising at the present time.

The Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and three independent directors have resigned from APN News & Media, the company in which Independent News & Media (INM) has a 28.95% shareholding. A statement issued by INM showed that Peter Hunt, Brett Chenoweth, Melinda Conrad, John Harvey and John Maasland had resigned. The announcement was issued just hours after INM released a statement stating its intention to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting with the purpose of asking shareholders to consider resolutions to remove six directors. In INM's more recent update, it stated that the five outgoing directors' departures would take place on February 19th as of 9am. In addition, the group announced that Kevin Luscombe, an existing director would retire in April as previously planned. INM stated that the board of directors had met yesterday to determine whether APN would undertake a renounceable pro-rata capital raising as disclosed to the market on February 15th 2013.