This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The Irish Times is planning to launch a metered paywall on its website next year, its managing director, Liam Kavanagh, has announced.

By the end of this year, he said, the company will have the technical platform in place to enable "digital pass" subscriptions on its website. The metered paywall would then be introduced in the first half of 2015.

"It is just one element of us building content-led digital revenues," he said. A new free mobile app with a more extensive range of content will be unveiled shortly.

In revealing that the Irish Times Ltd made a pre-tax profit of €5.4m (£4.3m) in 2013, Kavanagh said the company was on track to earn about €8m (£6.3m) in digital revenues this year.

Digital income is "something to build on", he said, citing new features that have increased visitors, such as regular podcasts, live blogs and more video content.

Overall, group revenues rose 3.6% to €84.4m (£66.5m) in 2013 over the previous year. Higher income from contract printing more than offset a 4.3% decline in newspaper advertising revenue and a 5% drop in circulation revenue.

The company recorded an operating profit of €2.7m (£2.2m), up from €1.7m (£1.3m). And Kavanagh said the outlook was brighter still for 2014, predicting a growth in ad revenues.

The Irish Times company has no net debt, and the group balance sheet shows its cash reserves stood at €11.9m at the end of 2013, up from €11.2m a year earlier.

Sources: Irish Times/Irish Independent