The publisher of the Manchester Evening News Reach PLC has announced that it is putting a fifth of its staff on furlough as it battles with the expected falls in advertising revenue during the Coronavirus crisis.
The Group which also publishes the nationals Mirror, Express and Star newspapers is to ask all employees to take a 10% pay cut.
It has also scrapped its dividend, suspended its bonus payments and will cut the pay of its senior management by 20 per cent.
In a statement released this morning, it added that it has agreed that all stakeholder groups should be asked to contribute to ensuring the company is in as strong a position as it can be and as a result the company has requested discussions around a deferment of current contributions to all the group pension funds.
The business came into the year with a robust balance sheet position and confirms that it continues to have adequate liquidity.
