Annual report shows redundancies and losses at MNA

Britain’s largest independent regional news publisher – the Wolverhampton-based Midland News Association (MNA) – made a post-tax loss of almost £1.7 million during the year ended 1 January 2022 compared with a profit of £385,000 made the previous year.

The company’s annual report also revealed that seventeen members of staff were made redundant during 2021 following increasing pressure on advertising and circulation revenues.

In the report, group director Stephen Brown said the pressure on revenue had been “exacerbated in the early part of the year by the coronavirus outbreak”.

 He said: “The directors acknowledged the distress such decisions have on local employees and sought to ensure a consistent and fair process was adopted. In all cases, there had to be a justification to deem a position redundant.

“Where compulsory redundancies were required, face to face consultations involving affected staff, senior departmental management and representatives from HR took place. The clearly defined process for decision making, and timescales for communication, was used consistently across the business.

“These difficult decisions have been made to ensure the business remains sustainable and thus enabling the business to continue to employ hundreds of employees.”

The report added: “In 2022, as regional publishing markets continue to evolve the business will further diversify its activity to grow its mix of traditional and new customers.”

MNA publishes the Express & Star, Shropshire Star, a series of weekly newspapers and publications such as The Farmer, attracting an online and print audience of one million people every week.