Guardian Media Limited

What it is

Guardian Media Limited (GML) is the media arm of the ANSA McAL conglomerate and Trinidad & Tobago’s most comprehensive media operator, running print, radio, television, digital, and electronic billboard businesses. Its flagship newspaper, the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian, is the country’s longest-running daily, founded on 2 September 1917.

GML operates through two segments — Print and Multi-Media — publishing the Trinidad Guardian and Sunday Guardian and providing commercial printing services. Its Multi-Media arm covers seven radio stations — 95.1 FM, Vibe CT105, Sangeet 106.1, Freedom 106.5, Slam 100.5, Sky 99.5, and Mix 90.1 in Guyana — plus the live television channel CNC3.

Who owns it

ANSA McAL holds 51% of GML’s issued share capital, giving it outright control; the remaining 49% trades freely on the TTSE. ANSA McAL is itself owned by the Sabga family, one of Trinidad’s most prominent business dynasties, so GML is ultimately family-controlled even as a listed company.

Both ordinary shares (GML) and 6% cumulative preference shares (GMLP) are listed on the TTSE; GML carries zero financial debt, with total equity of TT$239.9m (US$36 mn) and total assets of TT$324.2m (US$48 mn). That clean balance sheet is a genuine strength in a sector where many peers carry heavy borrowings.

Who runs it

The chairman is Peter Clarke; the managing director is Gerhard Pettier, who took the role on 1 November 2024; and the CFO is Candice Changoor, appointed on 1 January 2025. Pettier joined GML as CFO in June 2021, served as acting managing director from December 2023, and brings twenty-five years of experience in financial and risk management including more than fourteen years in senior roles across the ANSA McAL group.

Pettier is GML’s fourth managing director in as many years: he succeeded Dr Karrian Hepburn-Malcolm, who herself succeeded Brandon Khan, who had followed A. Nicholas Sabga — a rate of leadership turnover that signals the turbulence the company has navigated.

The money, in plain words

Revenue for 2024 was TT$97.9m (≈ US$14.5m), down TT$1.4m from 2023 — a decline of about 1.4% (our calculation) that sounds small but extends several years of pressure. GML posted a loss before tax of TT$2.9m (US$430 k) for the full year, though that loss was 77% narrower than the TT$10.6m (US$2 mn) loss a year earlier.

The Print segment — newspapers and commercial printing — lost TT$5.5m (US$816 k) before tax, while the Multi-Media segment (TV, radio, billboards) earned a profit before tax of TT$2.6m (US$386 k). GML has carried no financial debt for five years, so its losses reflect a revenue problem, not an interest burden — the company is not in financial distress, but it is not yet earning its cost of capital.

What it is doing now

Management has revised its revenue models, streamlined operations, managed controllable costs, and cut workplace inefficiencies under a formal business transformation plan. The board approved a final ordinary dividend of four cents per share for 2024, resuming payouts after no dividend at all in 2023.

At the 2024 Telecommunications and Broadcasting Industry Awards, GML captured four major prizes, including Innovative Broadcaster, Innovative Service Offering, Technological Disruptor, and Radio for the People — recognition that its transformation efforts are registering beyond the balance sheet. The company has also extended its reach into Guyana with the launch of Mix 90.1 FM.

What to watch

• Print losses vs. multi-media gains: the TT$5.5m (US$816 k) annual drag from print will determine whether the overall group can turn profitable; watch whether the multi-media segment’s TT$2.6m (US$386 k) profit grows enough to absorb it.
• Digital revenue ramp: shrinking advertising budgets and digital market disruptions continued through 2024 — the speed at which GML converts its new digital products into real revenue is the single biggest variable.
• Leadership stability: with a new managing director and a new CFO both installed since late 2024, the executive team is less than a year old; execution risk is elevated.
• Guyana expansion: GML now has radio studios and production facilities in Georgetown, Guyana — a market growing faster than Trinidad; early traction there could change the growth story.

This is news, not investment advice.