The Belgian group that owns the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent said its revenues were unchanged last year at €1.2 billion despite a decline in advertising sales and increased labour costs.
In a statement on Thursday, Mediahuis reported operating profits of €153 million for 2024, essentially unchanged from the year previous.
The group, which also publishes the Belfast Telegraph and The Sunday World and several regional titles, said its results were “stable” year-on-year despite significant challenges facing the print media industry.
Total subscriber numbers across the group, which owns a range of media and radio brands in the Benelux countries and Germany, were also stable at 1.8 million, it said, with digital subscriber growth compensating for the decline in print subscribers.
“To accommodate the decline in print volumes, Mediahuis closed its printing facility in Aachen, Germany, and centralised production in Paal-Beringen, Belgium,” it said.
Mediahuis also recently announced plans to close its plant in Amsterdam and move production to Leeuwarden in the north of the country.
Ger Ysebaert, Mediahuis group chief executive, said 2024 was “another year full of challenges” for the media sector.
“Despite these developments, Mediahuis managed to hold up well,” he said.
“Digital subscriptions are clearly the driving force behind a sustainable future, especially as the distribution of printed newspapers becomes increasingly complex and expensive.
“That is why we continue to invest in digitalisation as a future-proof solution, ensuring that our pluralistic journalism remains widely accessible and relevant. As a powerhouse for independent journalism, we continue to build strong news brands that all generations can trust in a world of change.”
Mediahuis Ireland, which employed close to 550 people at the start of 2024, said in January last year that it would seek to shrink the size of the workforce across its publishing division in the Republic and Northern Ireland by about 10 per cent.
The cuts were realised through a mix of voluntary redundancies, natural attrition, a shift to part-time working and compulsory redundancies, with some “internal mobility” also taking place.
