Paul Cooke, the managing director of the Sunday Business Post has stepped from the job and has sold his shareholding in the publisher.
The 55 staff at the publication were informed about Cooke’s departure this week. They were also informed that the company was to merge with Webprint, the Cork-based printer which is owned by Key Capital, the investment firm that controls the Sunday Business Post.
It is understood that a new board will be formed to oversee the enlarged business and it will include Siobhan Lennon, the publication’s commercial director, its editor Ian Kehoe, Donagh O’Doherty of Webprint as well Conor Killeen and Colin Morgan of Key Capital. It is not yet known who will replace Cooke as managing director.
The most recent set of accounts for the publisher show that it made a profit of €78,800 on a turnover of €7.2m in the year to the end of June 2015. This compared with previous year’s losses that amounted to €628,273. Retained losses, however, amounted to €1.60m. The turnaround in 2015 marked the company’s first profit since it emerged out of examinership three years ago. Earlier this year the paper won Media Brand of the Year at the annual Media Awards.
