Portuguese magazine group risks facing closure

The Portuguese magazine group Trust in News, which owns the current affairs magazine Visão and 15 other titles, risks facing closure after a company rescue and restructuring plan was not approved by Portugal’s national insurance entity Segurança Social.

TIN has clocked up debts of around €30 million, of which €15.9 million is owed to the Portuguese State.

Now that the plan has been rejected, it could mean some or all of the titles could close.

At the start of July, when the group’s debts were known – the group is held by the entrepreneur and former journalist Luís Delgado – the group employed 171.

Visão and the group’s other magazines were at risk of closure if “TIN’s SRP (Special Revitalisation Process) was not be approved. This now seems to be the case.

“The deadlines and conditions required to keep up with monthly national insurance contributions to the State, since May 29, 2024, have not be met, neither have (all) the salaries and allowances of all the employees (been paid)”, states the company’s management in a round- robin e-mail sent to staff.

“Everything was done, every month, so as not to delay each of the (payments) too much, but the reality is that it was not possible to get everything in order, as you well know,” stated the administration.

“Internal restructuring seems correct and adequate, but the time it takes to produce results is slower than TIN’s decline in revenues. We are reviewing (the situation) with our consultants to decide what measures should be taken to enable the company, which continues to operate normally, to continue.”

The group that publishes magazines such as Exame, Caras, Visão História, Jornal de Letras and Courrier International was bought by Luís Delgado in 2018 from Impresa, a media group owned by TV mogul and former prime minister of Portugal Francisco Pinto Balsemão for €10.2 million, of which €4.2 million is still outstanding.