Profit not honoured in its own company
THE HEART bleeds for the owners of Britain’s regional newspaper groups whose profits, they plead, are running through their fingers like sand.
In the early summer the management of Trinity Mirror oversaw a spectacular collapse as its share value fell by £110 million in a day, ending at just 8 per cent of the price four years ago; unfortunate that it happened in a week that saw chief executive Sly Bailey celebrate a bonus of £793,000 for “increasing shareholder value”. What a shame that this woman seems unable to apply her remarkable talent for accruing money beyond her own bank account.
Then in late August there was wailing in the financial press that Johnston Press was reporting half-year profits down 15.6 per cent to £81.6 million.
Chief executive Tim Bowdler said: “... difficult trading environment ... challenging conditions ... very gloomy picture ...” and so on.
Calamity! But look at the figures more closely. Johnston Press’s operating profit margin dropped year-on-year from 30.9 per cent to 27.9 per cent of turnover.
These are phenomenal profits, especially during an economic downturn. Banks and firms in other sectors are seeing profits fall through the floor, and most public companies think they’re doing well to earn 10 per cent.
How about their rivals in regional newspapers? A couple of years ago they were all over the 20 per cent mark; this is why their shares got so over-valued for an industry that anyone could see was running into trouble. Today, poor old TM are generating only 2.16 per cent on sales — that Sly Bailey touch — but Newsquest are at 11.63 per cent and Northcliffe Newspapers are raking in a stonking 38.96 per cent.
On the strength of their supposed privations these companies (apart from Northcliffe, at present) are sacking journalists hand over fist and making those that are left toil round the clock to feed their voracious websites.
Look at this: Johnston Press’s figures show that visitors to its sites were up by 42 per cent and revenue from digital publishing operations was up by 52 per cent on last year. This is rather promising. Aren’t online earnings supposed to be the future?
So why do they keep talking doom and gloom? Companies mostly talk up their shareholder value, but media owners are persistently pleading poverty. Surely it can’t just be to justify squeezing their workforces even harder?
Come on, give us the break we deserve
IT’S ONLY just after the summer, but couldn’t you do with another holiday — just an extra day?
Britain has fewer public holidays than any state in the EU except Romania, and of our seven, there is only one in the six months from June to December. British employees work the longest hours of any; our Labour government has fought tooth and nail within the EU against the application here of the Working Time Regulations that stipulate a 48-hour maximum working week.
There could hardly be a stronger argument for an extra bank holiday in the autumn — and here comes a call for one, led by the good old TUC.
In August the TUC launched its crusade with a press release, headlined: ”One million UK businesses could benefit from a new bank holiday.” The release went on: “Many customer-facing businesses, such as those in the retail, hospitality, leisure, tourism and transport sectors, have stronger trading days on bank holidays and could benefit from a new public holiday.” Marvellous!
“In sectors likely to benefit, consumer spending has grown from 31 per cent of household income in 1971 to 39 per cent in 2005. A new bank holiday will therefore help to continue this spending boom”, the TUC goes on. “As well as encouraging people to go on holidays and short breaks, bank holidays lead to more ‘days out’, which bring in £90 billion worth of spending a year to the economy in England alone.” That’s great.
But it seems the TUC can bring itself to advance this very sound idea only by telling bosses it would boost their profits. Is that the best it can do? Might not our union leaders dare to say that British workers, overworked, underpaid and overstressed as we are, actually deserve an extra day off for all the effort we contribute to the economy?
Apparently not; in fact it gets worse. The new bank holiday would be called “Community Day”, to “encourage more people to take up volunteering for a day. In return, employers will have a healthier, happier and more productive workforce.”
Far from giving us some small respite from our labours, the TUC wants us to spend our precious extra day’s holiday working for nothing.
YOUNGER colleagues may have heard the expression “to spike a story” and wondered where it came from.
A spike is a pointed spindle of soft metal mounted vertically on a wood block, onto which discarded copy and other material was carefully placed, by piercing the paper and pulling it down to the base.
This sample was made by a workie who was working with NUJ member Alison Freebairn at the International Red Cross in Geneva. She told the wide-eyed youngster about this versatile relic and he was inspired to go home and construct a replica himself, which he presented to her adorned with a red rose, bless him.
Was the Journalist a victim of China’s fiendish internet censorship? In the course of preparing our Olympic feature we emailed a number of Chinese media representatives in Beijing, and all but one bounced, with various intriguing Microsoft-style explanations. Eventually we got them on the phone.
Estate agents — remember how they used to smirk when you told them you were a journalist? “Ha ha. The only people less popular than us.” Not laughing now are they? Well nor are we, I suppose.