The Gleaner Group reported a $445 million loss for 2008. The media company indicated that over 80 per cent or $368 million of the loss was related to provisioning against the impairment of its operations in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada in the face of the global economic crisis. The Group's trading profit for the year was $14.4 million on revenues of $4.0 billion.

The company made an after-tax profit of $98 million in 2007.

Despite the significant loss posted in 2008, the group's balance sheet remains strong with equity of over $2 billion, net worth per share exceeding market value, negligible debt and substantial net current assets.

In a statement accompanying its audited accounts filed with the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday, the company's chairman, Hon. Oliver Clarke O.J., said that cost-reduction initiatives in early 2009, coupled with strategic investments in print capacity and circulation technology, and aggressive sales efforts, are expected to have a positive impact on future company results.

no immediate pull out

The statement by the Gleaner Company, the publisher of this newspaper, further suggested that there would be no immediate pull-out of its foreign businesses.

"The provisions are all non-cash transactions and make it unnecessary for the company to evaluate, in the future, assets which are susceptible to unpredictable impairment losses," the company's chairman said in the directors' report.

Clarke added that the operational performance on the overseas subsidiaries, which have been undergoing restructuring, actually improved last year, placing them "in a better position to handle the challenges of 2009".

The write-down on the foreign intangibles apart, the Gleaner Company, like a broad swath of Jamaican firms that saw their profits head south in 2008, attributed its situation to rising costs, reduced economic activity, followed by the global recession which drove down demand.

The cost of inputs for its flagship newspaper business, such as newsprint, ink, utilities and transportation and delivery services, rose during the first three quarters of the year, when the group returned a profit. "The fourth quarter offered some reduction in utilities and transportation costs, but this was nullified by the global economic crisis," Clarke said in his statement to stockholders.

Overall, operating expenses at $1.93 billion, increased by approximately $87 million or five per cent, but this relatively moderate rise was offset by the decline in revenue.