Reading between the lines

From the annual accounts for LRB Limited for the year ended 31 March 2010 (as pulled from Companies House just now). D^2 fans will be interested to know they've got a month to get their 2011 accounts in.

 

 

Comments

[CMcM]

Ah, I see I posted too soon on the other thread. This is fascinating stuff Richard - many thanks.

The Wilmer family trust is getting 8% return from its £40m investment so this is not an entirely charitable endeavour by any means.

[Richard J]

Depends whether the interest is getting paid or just accruing and getting rolled up into the amount due. £40m at 8% is c. £3.2m, or suspiciously close to the annual loss implied by the rest of the accounts - I'd bet it's a notional interest charge, more than anything else.

(The interesting question, to me if nobody else, is whether LRB Limited are getting a tax deduction for this interest - I suspect they can't, but it's not a clear cut question.)

[CMcM]

Mary Kay Wilmer was born in 1938. It would appear that much of the LRB's future might hang on her having continued good health well into her eighties.

[Richard J]

And Ira Jolles, also born in 1938, a NY attorney who appears to own half the voting shares, per the Annual Return.

[CMcM]

I see both Lancester and O'Hagen are Directors. That goes some way to explain why they might have received £40K a year each from the mag, if one takes it in conjunction with their actual writings.

[Richard J]

The wording in the disclosure is interestingly careful to make it plain that the fees are purely for their articles (and in O'Hagen's case, editing services as well.)

And thinking about it, I have a suspicion Ira Jolles may be a nominee shareholder.

[john b]

Re Lanchester: GBP40k doesn't seem unreasonable for writing fees alone, given his profile and the amount he writes.

Re Jolles: yes, I'd stake a large sum that ?she is a nominee, presumably a long-term Wilmer family retainee...

[ejh]

If it helps, I wrote a piece for them just over ten years ago and had they run it, I think my cheque would have been between six and seven hundred pounds. (They didn't run it, and I got half. Funny, that happened last time I did something for the Guardian, too.)

[Jasper Milvain]

On the O'Hagan/Lanchester thing, there may also be fees passed on from syndication to consider - Lanchester's financial-crisis writings got around quite a bit, for starters.