Posted online: Sep 6th, 2011

THE company which owns the award-winning Derry News has been restructured.
As part of a wide ranging re-structuring of River Newspapers, joint receiver managers from RSM Farrell Grant Sparks were appointed to the proup’s Republic of Ireland titles and PwC appointed as administrator to the group’s titles in Northern Ireland last Friday.
A spokesperson for River Newspapers said the organisation had been trading profitably over the past year but was hampered by a very large historic debt burden and had been working with its key creditors to address this issue.
As a result of the re-structuring, River Media Newspapers Ltd has now acquired all six newspaper titles from the RSM Farrell Grant Sparks joint receiver managers and PwC.
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 Ltd.
Mr. O’Dwyer thanked those employees for their continued commitment to the success of the business.
“While conditions in the advertising market remain challenging, the group is highly centralised and operating off a very low cost base”, he said.
“The group is now on a sustainable footing and the Board is confident that all six titles have a bright future,” he concluded.
The six titles that are now a part of River Media Newspapers Ltd are The Derry News, The County Derry Post, The Inish Times, The Donegal Post, The Letterkenny Post and The Kildare Post.
Over the past two years, The Derry News has won the Society of Editors UK Weekly Newspaper of the Year and Northern Ireland Press Awards Weekly Newspaper of the Year.