Regional media firm Integrity Community Media has been based in Northland for many years. Photo / RNZ
A regional media firm that went into voluntary administration with debts of more than $600,000 has been rescued, with a well-known Northland identity taking ownership and saving around 20 jobs.
“They have saved the day for us,” administrator Garry Whimp, of Blacklock Rose, told Media Insider.
Northland-based Integrity Community Media employs about 18 people, plus contractors, and has a portfolio of five titles – weekly community newspaper Kaipara Lifestyler and four monthly titles Northern Farming Lifestyles, Waikato Farming Lifestyles, Taranaki Farming Lifestyles and Manawatu Farming Lifestyles.
The Dargaville company was placed in voluntary administration in late July and since then Whimp has been sorting through debts of about $650,000, predominantly to the IRD and staff owed holiday pay.
Creditors are unlikely to see any money from the sale but the jobs would be saved, said Whimp. He confirmed a sale and purchase agreement had been signed, with settlement today.
“I am very happy. I think it’s for them [new owners] to announce, but they are local identities and have a real interest in keeping those jobs.
“It was more about the staff there and keeping local content. They have saved the day for us. We are very happy about that.”
The new owner is Rural Matters Ltd, a company formed this week and whose sole shareholder and director is Mangawhai-based Mike Howard.
“We know that business and having business survive in the district is critical,” Howard told Media Insider.
“These five papers keep 20 families in food. So that’s a key thing – we don’t want to lose that to the community. It’s a very viable business and it connects to my history of 44 years in the advertising and media game.”
Howard is well-known in the Mangawhai and broader Kaipara community – he sits on the Kaipara District Council and is also a life member and past president/chairman of the Mangawhai Golf Club and a previous board member of NZ Golf.
His four decades in media have included time at advertising agencies and running his own business.
Neither Whimp nor Howard would disclose the sale price.
READ TODAY’S FULL MEDIA INSIDER COLUMN HERE
Whimp said that debts, including around $400,000 owed to the IRD and staff owed holiday pay, were unlikely to be paid.
“I’m afraid that with any deals we were looking at over the last few weeks, none of them would have paid creditors. But this was the best one that we could put together.”
He said creditors such as print and distribution firms would still be involved in the future operation of the business and be paid for that work.
Despite its debts, it is understood the operation has remained profitable. The 28-page edition of the Kaipara Lifestyler this week was chock-full of advertisements.
“Through this, there’s been really loyal customers,” said Whimp.
“They have got a good advertising base, people have just continued to support the paper through administration, which has been very good. We’ve had almost nobody say that they were going to discontinue their advertising.
“It’s just going gangbusters. We’ve been keeping a really close eye on that and the sales staff. Everybody there has been doing what they can. They knew that if things slipped, we would not have many choices but to close.”
Howard said the first thing he wanted to do was “bed everything down and make as little change as possible in the transition”.
“Then we’ll worry about other opportunities.”
He said the media firm was a critical voice for the community.
“The greatest opportunity... you think about the Lifestyler ... is to have a local voice that can uphold the principles of the Fourth Estate, which are unfortunately badly abused too often these days.
“My key thing is a good, strong, viable, local voice.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.