UP TO 81 jobs have been saved after a well-known local company was wound up and a new company put in place to run six local newspapers.
In a statement this afternoon River Media Newspapers confirmed that River Newspapers has been wound up and the new company – River Media Newspapers – has taken over the Letterkenny Post, Donegal Post, Inish Times and three other titles.
The company said: “As part of a wide ranging re-structuring of River Newspapers, joint receiver managers RSM Farrell Grant Sparks were appointed to the Group’s Republic of Ireland titles and PwC appointed as Administrator of the Group’s titles in Northern Ireland on Friday, September 2nd.
“The Group has been trading profitably over the past year but was hampered by a very large historic debt burden and has been working with its key creditors to address this issue.
“As a result of the re-structuring, River Media Newspapers Limited has now acquired all six newspapers titles from RSM Farrell Grant Sparks and PwC.”
The statement went on: “Commenting on the developments CEO Padraig O’Dwyer emphasised that the restructuring had no impact on the contracts or conditions of the 81 employees of the titles that were transferred to River Media Newspapers Limited.
“Mr O’Dwyer thanked those employees for their continued commitment to the success of the business saying ‘While conditions in the advertising market remain challenging, the Group is highly centralised and operating off a very low cost base.
“‘The Group is now on a sustainable footing and the Board is confident that all six titles have a bright future’,he concluded.”
