Independent News & Media’s balance sheet is now looking a little less alarming than it has done during the recession. In an interim statement covering the the year to October 23, the Dublin-based group’s profits were down 37 percent from last year (no exact figure is given) - compared with a 44.8 percent profit drop in the first six months of the year.

The company predicts full-year operating profits of between €170 million (£152 million) and €190 million, which, at the lower range, would be 41 percent down on 2008’s €290.3 million (£260.7 million).

Revenues so far this year are down 14 percent and advertising was down 19 percent - again, a marginal improvement from the first half alone. IINM says this is down to “stablising advertising” spending. The company devalued its struggling newspapers by €71.8 million (£64.5 million)  and made a €48.5 million (£43,5 million) loss in H109

In September, the company hatched a complex plan to alleviate its debt by €350 million and finally pay off a €300 million (£269.4 million) bond. After much negotiating and several standstill agreements on the payment of the bond, the latest standstill deal expires on October 30—but INM says that, even before that deadline, another extension of the loan is already being sought from bondholders.

INM wants to swap €123 million (£110.4 million) of the bond for 732.2 million newly issued shares, worth 46 percent of the company—so far, 39 percent of bondholders have backed the plan, but 75 percent need to say yes for it to be passed. Crunch time comes at a meeting of bondholders on November 10.

To help with that cause, it sold off online bingo company Cashcade for €15.2 million, as well as 7.3 percent of its shares in stake in Indian publisher Jagran Prakashan. INM also plans to sell the South African INM Outdoor billboard advertising business, subject to an EGM, and German price comparison site Verivox.

Still no sign of any intention to sell the Indie, although dissident shareholder Dennis O’Brien may now have his chance…

The entrepreneur has used his 26.4 percent INM shareholding to force two EGMs on November 3 and 13. He wants directors stripped of their ability to issue shares and for the unprofitable Indie titles to be jettisoned—two years ago he called the papers a loss-making “vanity project” and his position has hardly shifted—but INM, still controlled by former CEO Anthony O’Reilly, is urging shareholders to vote against him.

• Earnings: INM De-Values Its Newspapers By €71.8 Million
• Indy Publisher Pulls Contortion Act To Escape Debt
• Earnings: Independent News & Media Online Revenues Up, Print Revenues Go South