Graphic Communications strategising to recapitalise operations

The Management of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) is strategising on how to recapitalise operations of the Company.

At a staff meeting Thursday morning, the Management said the Company was not making enough money to meet its commitments, hence the need to engage a transactional advisor for options, including Initial Public Offering (IPO).

An IPO means that a company’s ownership is transitioning from private ownership to public ownership. For that reason, the IPO process is sometimes referred to as “going public”.

It is also said to be the first step you take on the stock exchange, floating your shares and calling for bidders.

The Management said Government, the sole shareholder of the Company, wanted to make it “liquid” and more relevant thus the options, a source told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

It said the Company needed advice from the Attorney General to proceed with the strategic plans and a possible listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

The staff were told that the Company would go through a strategic review plan, first, with the Digital Unit.

The deadline for the review spans months, the GNA was told.

Some workers of the Company complained of unpaid salaries, pension contributions in arrears, and unresolved end-of-service benefits for retired staff, with many leaving the meeting unhappy with developments.

The Company, known for producing the renowned Graphic, Mirror, Graphic Sports and Junior Graphic newspapers, is noted for its longstanding presence as one of the nation’s foremost media outlets.

Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) was established in the Gold Coast as a private business in 1950 by the Daily Mirror Group of Britain.

At that time, the Company was named the West African Graphic Company Limited.
Graphic launched its first newspaper, the Daily Graphic, on 2nd October, 1950.

In 1964 the Mirror Group, the owners of the Company, sold it to the Ghana government for £6,600.

According to the founder of the company, Mr Cecil King, in his memoirs, they sold the company to the government “not because of political difficulties but because the incompetence of the exchange and import control system was gradually bringing us to a halt.”

After acquiring the Company, the government changed the name from Ghana Graphic Company to Graphic Corporation, the following year, 1965.

But it was in 1971 that a legislative instrument, Graphic Corporation Instrument 1971, LI 709, was passed to incorporate the company as a statutory corporation in compliance with the Statutory Corporations Act, 1964 (Act 232).

Source: GNA