Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd.'s newly-appointed CEO Jonathan Howes is relishing the challenge of consolidating and modernising the group as a whole.

Mr. Howes, who already has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the business having been The Royal Gazette Ltd.'s group controller for the past three years, will oversee all parts of the operation, including the newspaper, printing and retail/sales divisions.

He took on the role at the start of this year and already has plans to look into how to make the company more efficient and more profitable at the same time as reducing costs wherever possible.

"I think the first step is to look at the business plan that has been taking place and look at how we can improve on the level of services that we offer, while at the same time looking at our cost base," he said.

"I want to work with the staff to build forward-looking plans."

Traditionally the group had operated in two separate parts - Bermuda Press and The Royal Gazette - but a bringing together of its accounting, finance, payroll and human resources functions under one umbrella was deemed to be the best way forward, leading to the newly-created position of CEO, with the managing directors from both sides of the business reporting directly to them, who in turn reports back to the Board of Directors.

The Board carried out an extensive review of operations during 2009, which highlighted that 40 years of expansion at the company had made day-to-day operations increasingly complex and that a CEO was required to standardise and consolidate administrative functions, as well as to modernise the operating structure of the group.

"When we looked at it in greater detail, there were areas where savings could be made and so it was really about how we stopped looking at this as two separate tiers and brought them together to give a single focus," said Mr. Howes.

He said that appointing from within was an advantage due to having someone with an appreciation of the day-to-day operations, the staff and the work they do, as well as being involved in a number of major projects in order to get a real insight into the business.

Furthermore, in his role as group controller, Mr. Howes has always seen the company as one whole rather two separate parts, with both sides relying on the same basic services.

He said that despite the company's employees working in different industries spread out across three buildings in Hamilton (as well as two buildings which are leased out to other businesses), the functions they all utilised could be combined as one, including payroll, HR and IT services.

One of the key parts of the business is The Royal Gazette, and Mr. Howes is all too aware of the impact of the economic downturn and a drop-off in readership and advertising revenue on publications across the world, in addition to the big changes they have had to undergo as a result, and believes it is important to focus on the future direction of the newspaper and where it needs to be in the short and long-term to adapt to an ever-shifting economic environment.

"It is about understanding that there are so many different ways to distribute content and shifting our focus from being a daily newspaper to being driven by content delivery, as well as understanding where we want to be five years from now and beyond," he said.

"Publications across the world are seeing drops in advertising and revenue and understanding where the future revenues are going to come from is critical."

With 200 plus employees, including full and part-time staff, Mr. Howes recognises that human capital is one of the group's biggest and most valuable assets, and believes that understanding the role they play in the business and how it can be developed and furthered will be critical to its future success, through improving the communication and synergy between the different divisions.

"Obviously you have to look at your business and understand where you make money and don't make money," he said.

"If you are sitting at your desk and have got nothing to do then you should be concerned, but on the other hand if people work hard and are productive, you have to look at how to make the most of that to increase revenues.

"The more you empower people with the knowledge of the business then the more they are willing to participate in the process and what we have is 200 plus people and if they all buy into this business then we are going to win at the end of the day.

"The only way to effect the necessary changes is through planning and participation and unfortunately there are tough decisions to be made sometimes, but the key here is to secure our human capital.

"Nobody wants to see people put out of jobs, but what we want to do is to understand how to make things more efficient to get more out of people or, if that is not possible, we have to make those kinds of decisions."

Mr. Howes, who is a Chartered Accountant with 10 years experience and is also a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, started his career in Bermuda with Arthur Morris Christensen, before moving on to Frontline Bermuda as chief accountant managing Golden Ocean and Kinghtsbridge.

A statement by Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd. (BPHL) to the Bermuda Stock Exchange said: "The Board views the input provided by Mr. Howes as timely, entrepreneurial and forward-thinking. He has demonstrated the ability to work closely and effectively with existing staff and to effect change within the Group.

"The Board sees the future success of BPHL as directly related to its ability to modernise traditional business, streamline operations and to grow new sources of revenue. The appointment of Jonathan Howes to the roll of CEO with his financial and information technology background, combined with his existing knowledge of operations, is an important step in ensuring the company's future success."