Guardian Media ‘robust’ despite $11m loss, says chairman

Despite reporting an $11 million loss in its latest audited financial results, Guardian Media Ltd (GML) chairman Peter Clarke maintains that its metrics, coming out of its financial statements released in local newspapers on Wednesday, were still “robust.”

For the year ending December 31, 2023, GML earned $99.3 million in third-party revenue as compared to $117.7 million the year before, but operating activities for 2023 put the company in the red, making a $9.8 million loss for the period as compared to a profit of $4.6 million for 2022.

The company saw a loss before tax of $10.6 million as compared to a profit of $3.8 million the year before.

After tax, the company reported a loss of $11.1 million, as compared to $2.7 million the year before.

For the final quarter of 2023, ending on December 31, GML reported earning $27.4 million as compared to $41.7 million for the same period the year before.

Profit before tax stood at $5.6 million for the quarter as compared to $10.3 million the year before. After tax, GML earned $1.3 million in profits for the quarter, as compared to $3.6 million the year before.

The statements revealed that the print segment, earning $44.6 million in revenue for last year as compared to $50.8 million in 2022, ran into a loss before tax of $8.2 million.

In 2022, the print segment brought in a profit of $117,000.

The multimedia segment earned $54.7 million in revenue for 2023, but recorded a $2.3 million loss before tax at the end of the year. In 2022, after garnering $66.9 million in revenue, it earned $3.7 million in profit.

Clarke again cited the negative impact of lower-than-expected commercial interest in the English Premier League (EPL) campaign and the costs attached to acquiring the rights for the performance of the multimedia section.

“There was an increase in fixed operating costs over the prior year while all other controllable interests were tightly managed,” Clarke said. With regard to the print segment, he said GML’s management worked to manage against the backdrop of shrinking advertising budgets and digital market disruptions.

“Management has worked diligently during the year to navigate the changing local market environment through improved sales and service capabilities, redoubled editorial relevance and appeal, increased audience engagement, development of content and productions; and delivery of efficiency improvements within the organisation,” he said.

Last year, Dr Karrian Hepburn-Malcolm resigned as managing director, effective November 30, 2023. She was the third person to resign from the position in four years. Nicholas A Sabga resigned in 2020 and was replaced by Brandon Khan, who resigned in February 2023.

GML’s board appointed chief financial officer and corporate secretary Gerhard Pettier as acting managing director following Hepburn-Malcolm’s departure. His appointment took effect on December 1 last year.

Pettier, with 25 years of experience in financial and risk management, worked at Ansa McAl for over 14 years in senior roles in manufacturing, retail, construction, distribution and media sectors.

GML, home to the TT Guardian newspaper, is also the parent company of the TBC radio network, 95.1 FM, Slam Radio 100.5, the Big Board Company and CNC 3.