HAMILTON, Bermuda – Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd, the parent company of The Royal Gazette newspaper, Tuesday reported a net loss US$466,000 last year as compared with US$76,000, the previous year.
Chairman Stephen R Davidson said the company “continues to be impacted by the depressed state of the local economy, including the closure or consolidation of many local businesses in recent years.
“The majority of the loss resulted from the retraction or withdrawal of large advertisers in our media operations, reflecting the overall constraints of the Bermuda economy,” he added.
According to the published reports, the company said revenue declined last year to US$18,909,000 from US$19,675,000 in the previous year, with advertising and retail revenues decreasing 4.8 per cent or US$671,000.
It said print revenues decreased by 2.4 per cent or US$63,000, while revenue from rental and other income decreased by US$32,000.
The board of directors have declared $0.37 per share in dividends during the fiscal year, representing a 4.625 per cent yield based on the most recent closing share price of $8.
Davidson said in light of current circumstances and to preserve funds that will be required to make operational changes in 2024, the board did not declare a dividend in December 2023.
He said the board believes that an active and free media is essential to Bermuda’s development as a community.
“Over the past two years, the board has approved significant costs defending a legal action in the Bermuda courts to suppress The Royal Gazette from reporting aspects of local lawyer Evatt Tamine’s involvement in billionaire Robert Brockman’s tax evasion case in the United States.
“Albeit a complicated legal case, the courts effectively censored The Royal Gazette from reporting on a document that was made publicly available on websites operated by the US Department of Justice and off-island media, because the document was allegedly sealed in a Bermuda court case.”
Davidson said the newspaper retained a leading media counsel to represent the company before the Bermuda Court of Appeals.
“However, a recent ruling dismissed our appeal of the original judgment. Ironically, the same ruling acknowledged that virtually all of the information originally reported upon by The Royal Gazette may now be published, and even named the offshore sources where the original sealed document can be located.
“We feel the court’s judgment has unjustly suppressed the media’s ability to report on publicly available information and sets a retrograde precedent for transparency in Bermuda. The board is weighing legal options, recognising that these options come at a cost to shareholders,” Davidson said.
He said The Royal Gazette has been testing registration and paywall systems in some jurisdictions outside Bermuda, and to access its archives users are now required to log in.
