Light and shadow over Le Temps
The French-speaking Swiss daily newspaper Le Temps is successful, but expensive
The French-speaking Swiss daily newspaper Le Temps is successful, but expensiveBy Christophe Büchi The French-speaking Swiss daily newspaper Le Temps is costing its shareholders more than expected. The premature launch of two weekend supplements is partly responsible for this. However, according to Editor-in-Chief Eric Hoesli, they should generate new growth.
The bosses of Le Temps, which was created in March 1998 from the merger between the Nouveau Quotidien and the Journal de Genève, are currently experiencing the well-known fact once again: making newspapers is almost always more expensive than you think. Although Le Temps itself does not publish any figures, the new annual report of the Journal de Genève publishing company, which together with Edipresse holds 47 percent of the share capital in Le Temps, sheds a glaring light on the darkness of the figures.
The existing shareholders are in trouble
This report shows that Le Temps made a loss of around four million francs in 1999. This puts the public limited company of the Journal de Genève in a delicate situation. The accumulated deficit (loss in 1999 plus loss from previous years) in the balance sheet of the AG amounts to a whopping CHF 7.1 million, with a balance sheet total of CHF 12.98 million and equity capital of CHF 6.86 million.
In view of this imbalance, Chairman of the Board of Directors Gilbert Coutau has promised a vigorous restructuring program. In particular, the AG wants to work towards drastically reducing the losses at Le Temps. "The situation is still acceptable for 1999, but it can't go on like this," explained Coutau to his shareholders.
A loss of four million on a turnover of 44.9 million - isn't that really a bit much? Le Temps Editor-in-Chief Eric Hoesli answered this crucial question: "It is indeed a high loss. But the important figure for us is the operating loss, which is much lower." However, the balance sheet is additionally burdened by depreciation, which includes the publishing rights owed to the main shareholders (AG des Journal de Genève and Edipresse).
Property gazette as competition
In fact, the operating loss in 1999 should "only" amount to around 1.5 million francs. About two thirds of this is due to the two weekend supplements that were recently added to the Saturday edition (reported in WerbeWoche). Nevertheless, Hoesli admits that advertising income in 1999 was also slightly below the budget prepared by Publicitas. Property advertisements in particular did not quite reach the level hoped for, as the Geneva real estate managers had launched their own advertising medium. However, the trend was corrected in the second half of 1999, adds Hoesli.
However, the editor-in-chief does not see the early launch of the weekend supplements as a source of loss, but rather as an investment in the future. Thanks to them, the Saturday figures have improved considerably. Le Temps hopes that this will also attract readers for the other days of the week. In any case, Hoesli's legendary optimism and "positive thinking" were not affected by the loss reports for 1999.
In fact, in view of the latest Wemf figures, he has every reason to be satisfied. They show 52432 copies sold for Le Temps, 1564 more than in the previous year. This is the strongest growth of all French daily newspapers. Le Temps has thus established itself solidly in fourth place on the list of French-speaking "quotidiens", behind 24Heures, Tribune de Genève and Le Matin - but far ahead of the regional newspapers Nouvelliste, La Liberté and L'Express.
Opponents of the merger continue to rumble and publish white paper
For the fathers of Le Temps, the baby is well on its way. In Geneva, however, the discontent over the merger of the Journal de Genève has not yet completely dissipated. A few days ago, the former professor of law, Pierre Engel, who leads the opponents of the merger, published a pamphlet entitled "Le livre blanc d'un noir dessin" ("White book on a black project").
For Engel, Le Temps is still the devil. With the Journal de Genève, the Republic of Geneva has been robbed of its traditional mouthpiece, he writes. A small clique of ambitious technocrats has caused permanent damage to the French press. However, the opponents of the merger seem to have given up hope of succeeding in legal action against the "famiglia" of "press concentrationists".
The bosses of Le Temps, which was created in March 1998 from the merger between the Nouveau Quotidien and the Journal de Genève, are currently experiencing the well-known fact once again: making newspapers is almost always more expensive than you think. Although Le Temps itself does not publish any figures, the new annual report of the Journal de Genève publishing company, which together with Edipresse holds 47 percent of the share capital in Le Temps, sheds a glaring light on the darkness of the figures.
The existing shareholders are in trouble
This report shows that Le Temps made a loss of around four million francs in 1999. This puts the public limited company of the Journal de Genève in a delicate situation. The accumulated deficit (loss in 1999 plus loss from previous years) in the balance sheet of the AG amounts to a whopping CHF 7.1 million, with a balance sheet total of CHF 12.98 million and equity capital of CHF 6.86 million.
In view of this imbalance, Chairman of the Board of Directors Gilbert Coutau has promised a vigorous restructuring program. In particular, the AG wants to work towards drastically reducing the losses at Le Temps. "The situation is still acceptable for 1999, but it can't go on like this," explained Coutau to his shareholders.
A loss of four million on a turnover of 44.9 million - isn't that really a bit much? Le Temps Editor-in-Chief Eric Hoesli answered this crucial question: "It is indeed a high loss. But the important figure for us is the operating loss, which is much lower." However, the balance sheet is additionally burdened by depreciation, which includes the publishing rights owed to the main shareholders (AG des Journal de Genève and Edipresse).
Property gazette as competition
In fact, the operating loss in 1999 should "only" amount to around 1.5 million francs. About two thirds of this is due to the two weekend supplements that were recently added to the Saturday edition (reported in WerbeWoche). Nevertheless, Hoesli admits that advertising income in 1999 was also slightly below the budget prepared by Publicitas. Property advertisements in particular did not quite reach the level hoped for, as the Geneva real estate managers had launched their own advertising medium. However, the trend was corrected in the second half of 1999, adds Hoesli.
However, the editor-in-chief does not see the early launch of the weekend supplements as a source of loss, but rather as an investment in the future. Thanks to them, the Saturday figures have improved considerably. Le Temps hopes that this will also attract readers for the other days of the week. In any case, Hoesli's legendary optimism and "positive thinking" were not affected by the loss reports for 1999.
In fact, in view of the latest Wemf figures, he has every reason to be satisfied. They show 52432 copies sold for Le Temps, 1564 more than in the previous year. This is the strongest growth of all French daily newspapers. Le Temps has thus established itself solidly in fourth place on the list of French-speaking "quotidiens", behind 24Heures, Tribune de Genève and Le Matin - but far ahead of the regional newspapers Nouvelliste, La Liberté and L'Express.
Opponents of the merger continue to rumble and publish white paper
For the fathers of Le Temps, the baby is well on its way. In Geneva, however, the discontent over the merger of the Journal de Genève has not yet completely dissipated. A few days ago, the former professor of law, Pierre Engel, who leads the opponents of the merger, published a pamphlet entitled "Le livre blanc d'un noir dessin" ("White book on a black project").
For Engel, Le Temps is still the devil. With the Journal de Genève, the Republic of Geneva has been robbed of its traditional mouthpiece, he writes. A small clique of ambitious technocrats has caused permanent damage to the French press. However, the opponents of the merger seem to have given up hope of succeeding in legal action against the "famiglia" of "press concentrationists".
