Business Opinion/John McManus: The Irish Press plc report and accounts for the nine months to December 2002 is a slim enough volume at 23 pages , but its release last week serves to provoke the question; why is this company still in existence.

It is now seven years since the three Irish Press titles folded with debts of €26 million an a loss of some 600 jobs. But still the parent company continues on, with a turnover of €1.3 million (for the nine months to end of last year) and a wages bill of €956,000.

The possibility of re-launching the papers and the need to pursue outstanding litigation were foremost amongst the reasons held out by Eamon de Valera and Vincent Jennings for keeping the group going. They are respectively the managing director and chairman of the group.

If the reasons given for keeping the company going in the immediate aftermath of the closures ever really existed, they certainly don't now. A re-launch of one or all of the Irish Press titles is no longer on the cards. The company's management has conceded this point and the short and painful life of the Dublin Daily only serves to reinforce this fact. The titles have been up for sale for a number of years, with no serious expression of interest apparent.

It is also more than a year and a half since the company settled its litigation against the US bank Warburg Pincus. The bank had advised it on its disastrous joint venture with the US newspaper tycoon Ralph Ingersoll, which played no small part in the group's demise. Irish Press had been looking for something like €60 million in damages but in the end it accepted €7.6 million in early 2002.

With the wisdom of hindsight, it was obvious from very early on that the papers would not be re-launched and also that the Warburg litigation would yield little. When the €7.6 million is set off against the legal costs of €6.2 million it does not represent much of a return.

Neither is it much justification for having kept the company going for the previous six years, during which time Mr de Valera and Mr Jennings drew down very respectable salaries and made a number of modest investments - a 59 per cent stake in TippFM and the purchase of Thoms directories.

However, their decision to write off the legal costs as they were incurred meant that Irish Press was able to bank the bulk of the settlement, with its net assets jumping from €810,000 to €6 million in the year to March 2002 as a consequence.

But rather than call it a day at that point and hand the money back to shareholders the directors decided to retain the money and "develop new business interests". Since then the company's management has bought nothing of any significance, but still managed to make sizeable inroads into its cash pile, slimming it down from €8 million to €6.7 million by the end of 2002. Net assets had also fallen, to €4.9 million, by the end of 2002.

Of course, this was not a particularly difficult feat to accomplish given that much of the money was tied up in investments during the most prolonged stock market slump on record. It did not help that the company made an operating loss.

Presumably the trend has continued into this year. Investment markets may have improved, but they are still a dangerous place to be.

So is the future for Irish Press to limp along gradually eating up the Warburg Picnus cash pile? Given the less than dynamic track record of its management, one would have to say; probably yes.

Well, who cares? It is their company and if they want to slowly run it into the ground, is that not their right? Unfortunately not.

I suppose you could construct some emotional argument about the role of the Irish Press in Irish society and Mr de Valera's duty to try and resurrect the titles started by his grandfather. But the reality must be that they are never coming back, particularly if there is only €6.7 million to bankroll them.

Dublin Daily burnt through €4.2 million in its short life.

The real reason that Mr de Valera and Mr Jennings should not be left to tinker away at Irish Press is that it is not their company. There are another 7,000, mostly elderly, shareholders in the company.

They tend to be forgotten about until the Irish Press plc annual general meeting rolls around every year. A handful can be relied on to turn up, give out a little bit and thence go back to from whence they came.

There was a serious attempt in 1997 by a group of small shareholders to have the company wound up, but the move was doomed to failure given Mr de Valera's controlling stake. With 54 per cent of the ordinary shares he is in a position to see off any further challenge, should somebody want to take a tilt at the upcoming agm.

I doubt anyone will bother, but the good news is that Irish Press is continuing with its generous dividend, proposing 25 cent per share in respect of last year. This will cost €216,000 and yield a tidy €116,000 for Mr de Valera. The bad news is that it could take another 20 years to pay out the Warburg money.

jmcmanus@irish-times.ie