Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the London Evening Standard and the Independent titles, has denied that his British publishing company is facing a financial crisis.
In a Sunday Times interview, he said the legal and commercial problems facing his father, Alexander, in Russia will not affect the finances of his four UK papers.
He confirmed that his father – who is facing a charge of hooliganism for punching property tycoon Sergei Polonsky on a TV show – is trying to sell his 74% stake in a Russian bank along with other assets.
He also confirmed that he is seeking an investment partner for his British publishing company, but said rumours that the Daily Mail General Trust is hoping to buy back the Standard are wide of the mark. DMGT retained a 25% holding in the paper when it was sold to the Lebedevs in 2009.
Lebedev also told the Sunday Times that in the year up to September 2012 the Standard made a profit of £1m and denied that it was achieved by shifting overheads to the loss-making Independent. He is quoted as saying: “No extra costs have been piled on the Indy.”
He was ebullient about the growing sale of the Indy’s little sister, i, and gave a broad hint that it could go free at some point.
Source: Sunday Times (behind paywall)