London financial freesheet City report a more than five-fold increase in pre-tax losses last year, while company directors banked almost £540,000.
The company, which in June made the surprise move of appointing an editor with no senior editorial experience, reported a pre-tax loss of £624,917 last year.
This compares to a loss of £116,237 in 2013, and a small profit in 2012.
Despite the slump, the company’s five directors, which include co-founders Lawson Muncaster and Jens Torpe, took home £539,000 between them.
The un-named highest paid director received £279,866.
Three un-named directors have 3,200 share options, with an exercise price of £6.09 per share, that can be exercised on the “sale of the company, upon flotation of the company or four years after the grant date of 23 August 2010”.
The company pointed out that at an operating level the loss was £246,000, slightly less than in 2013, and said the business had been hit by a severe downturn in print advertising in the first quarter of 2014.
“The results for 2014 were heavily impacted by the dramatic decline in print advertising during the first three months of the year, which saw the company lose £400,000,” the company said. “Market conditions improved from April and the company decided to move ahead with the planned major investment in digital. [This] has resulted in a tripling of visitors during the past 12 months, and a major increase in digital revenues.”
Total revenues at the publisher, which launched two new magazines this year, fell by 7.4% from £9.05m to £8.38m between 2013 and 2014. Net debt broadened from £7.8m to £8.47m.
City AM, which recently launched a trial to test software that bars readers from using ad blocking, said it has seen a “double digit” revenue increase in the first nine months of this year.
City AM employed an average of 59 staff last year, with employee costs at £3.3m.
The company has £3.6m owning to creditors due within one year, and £6.6m due within five years.
