SEE UPDATED POSTING ABOVE: Further to my posting yesterday about Independent News & Media selling off online assets, it emerges that the company is to issue a trading update to the Irish stock exchange this week, though there is no announcement of that on the company's website.
Ireland's Sunday Business Post reported yesterday that there were growing concerns about the plunge in INM's share price, its €1.2bn (£1.13bn) debt and the €200m (£188m) bond due to be repaid in May.
The story - also carried on Media Guardian today - quoted INM's chief operating officer Gavin O'Reilly as saying that INM would "be issuing a full trading statement in the next week where all of these questions will be answered and more".
INM evidently expects to report a profit of between €250m-€300m (£235-282m) for 2008 and predicts it will make around €250m for 2009.
As interesting as all that might be, it is the fate of The Independent that still fascinates. Will INM reveal more about its talks with the Russian oligarch, and new London Evening Standard owner, Alexander Lebedev?
Is the Indy's move into the Daily Mail's headquarters, now set for April, a precursor to its eventual sale? Can a cash-strapped INM go on bankrolling a paper losing money, adverts, readers and kudos?
