Hamilton – The parent company of Bermuda’s only daily newspaper has suffered a net loss of US$2.96 million for the year ended September 30, 2020, which compared to a profit of $738 000 for the prior year.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted all business units of Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd (BPHL), owners of the Royal Gazette, which prints daily apart from Sundays.
A large part of the decline was attributable to a non-cash write-off of US$1.73 million relating to the impairment of goodwill in commercial printing.
Operating revenue fell US$4.3 million to US$18.7 million while operating expenses declined US$2.3 million to US$19.8 million.
In addition to the Gazette, the company owns commercial printing, real estate and retail interests.
The rental and other segments produced income of US$1.94 million, although this reduced to a total income of US$192 000 once the loss of impairment of goodwill was factored in.
The publishing and retail segment recorded a US$1.75 million loss and the commercial printing segment a US$1.35 million loss.
BPHL had a US$2.5 million, or 16.1 per cent, decline in advertising and retail revenue, a US$1.5 million, or 36.9 per cent, decline in commercial printing, and a US$256 000, or eight per cent, decline in tenant and other income.
BPHL chairman Stephen Davidson said the pandemic year had been a trial for Bermuda that would be pivotal in the island’s future.
He said in the BPHL’s just-released annual report: “Several years ago, our board chairperson lamented that Bermuda often seemed too cautious and fearful to adopt change, with negative consequences on our economy and the prospects for Bermudians. The scourge of COVID-19 has swept away many of Bermuda’s options to coast along without making hard decisions.”
Davidson praised the government for the way it made difficult choices to find a balance between the community’s health and safety and the island’s economic prosperity, but he also recognized that those commendable measures have created “an economic reckoning that Bermudians must now face together”.
The pandemic had led to a move to remote working by most professionals, while the island’s economy “fell into doldrums unique in our history with the retail and hospitality sectors at a standstill, and much of the service sector limping along”, he said.
BHPL had adapted to remote working methods “even in the deadline-driven newsroom”, and had continued to produce the newspaper six days a week.
The Gazette’s sister weekly, the Mid-Ocean News, closed in 2009 while the rival Bermuda Sun, a bi-weekly, called it a day five years later. (CMC)
