By: Mark Fitzgerald For the eighth time, banks holding debt of Morris Publishing Group on Tuesday gave The Florida Times-Union's parent more time to make a $9.7 million interest payment that was due Feb. 1.
The extension allows Morris more time to avoid bankruptcy or some other alternative, given its financial situation.
Morris announced the extension of the so-called forbearance period shortly before it was to expire at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Morris said it has until the end of business July 31 to make the payment on $278 million of senior subordinated notes held by a group of banks led by JPMorgan Chase.
Under the cross-default requirements of its various loan agreements and credit facilities, debt holders could have demanded immediate payment of its total long-term debt of $419 million. Morris said Tuesday those requirements have been waived until July 31 as well.
Morris is staggering under the combination of debt and the fall-off in revenue that has hit all of the newspaper industry, but has been especially in Florida and the Sun Belt where it publishes several of its 13 dailies. Its latest annual report included a qualified opinion from its accounting firm suggesting it has doubts about Morris' ability to continue as a going concern.
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