Morning freesheet Metro runs up €8.3m losses in first 15 months
FREESHEET Metro racked up losses of more than €8.3m during its first 15 months on Dublin's streets. The losses, detailed in accounts just filed by Metro's Irish holding company Fortunegreen, trace the freesheet's performance from its launch in October 2005 to the end of 2006.
The accounts give minimal detail, but at the end of the period Metro's profit and loss balance was $8.3m in the red.
Lee Thompson, managing director of Metro, declined to respond to queries on the results.
One industry source said that while losses were to be expected during the launch period of any publication, the scale of Metro's losses was "pretty brutal".
Metro's main competition Herald AM (which is owned by Irish Independent owner Independent News & Media) does not disclose its financial performance.
But one media analyst said he doubted the losses were anything like those incurred by Metro.
"The Independent's operating profits from Ireland are about €100m a year, if they were losing that [Metro's] kind of money on Herald AM you'd never be able to hide that," he added.
The filings also show that Metro's owners -- the Irish Times (45pc), the Daily Mail (45pc) and Metro International (10pc) -- have handed over €7.27m in loans in addition to the €2m they originally committed to the venture.
"The company's stakeholders have agreed to provide adequate funding to enable the company to continue in operation," the accounts note.
News of Metro Ireland's losses comes just days after Metro International issued a profit warning and announced it would speed up a strategic review in a bid to improve its financial outlook.
Metro International is now on course to report third quarter losses of $18m, up from the $9m of losses last year.
- Laura Noonan
