Telegraph faces financial turmoil due to loans granted to Barclay family
- The Telegraph newspaper has recorded a loss of £240m due to unrecoverable loans given to the Barclay family.
- As the media group plans to sell, it allocates almost £280m to cover the loans associated with the current owners.
- Despite revealing a significant financial gap of £278m, the Telegraph demonstrates strength and resilience as it approaches a sale.
The media group that owns the Daily Telegraph newspaper faced significant financial challenges in 2023, reporting losses of £244.6m due to a provision of £277.6m set aside for loans made to the Barclay family that may not be repaid. The uncertainty surrounding the ownership of the Telegraph titles and the Spectator magazine arose when the titles were seized by Lloyds bank after the Barclay family failed to repay £1.16bn in debts. Despite surpassing 1m subscriptions in August 2023 and an increase in turnover to £268m, the group still experienced a record loss. The Barclay family, proud of their investment in Telegraph Media Group, saw their planned deal with a UAE-backed consortium fall through due to new legislation blocking foreign-government-backed entities from owning British media groups. Investigations into potentially irregular transactions involving the Barclay family have drawn interest from criminal investigators, with a provision of £278m recorded in the 2023 accounts. The Telegraph is now up for sale, with a second auction being prepared by RedBird IMI. The future of the company remains uncertain as potential claims against the company, including tax fraud and claims by current directors against previous directors, loom. Despite the challenges, the Telegraph and The Spectator are expected to sell for more than the £600m paid last year, according to industry predictions.