PA Group

In 2012 the PA Group recorded 85% increase in profits. "The parent company of the Press Association reported a surge of 85% in pre-tax profits last year, prompting a 27% pay boost for chief executive Clive Marshall to over £800,000 and the first dividend for shareholders in four years.

"PA Group, which owns the UK news agency and the pan-European weather information company Meteo, said that a bumper year of events including the royal wedding and the UK riots fuelled an 85% rise in pre-tax profits to £10.6m. Revenues rose 7% to £106m... Marshall works at the privately-held PA Group – two of the biggest shareholders are the newspaper publishers Daily Mail & General Trust and Trinity Mirror – which means that he will not face public scrutiny over the size of his remuneration package... Total staff costs decreased slightly to £49.3m. PA Group employed 1,237 – down slightly on the 1,328 in 2010 – with the UK Group accounting for 982 staff. UK Group staff numbers dropped by 10%, from 1,092, year-on-year."

In March 2010 it was reported that Murdoch MacLennan "will succeed former Johnston Press boss Tim Bowdler from tomorrow. Bowdler, who has been on the PA Group board since 2001 and acted as chairman since January last year, is stepping down as planned. MacLennan is the second appointment to the board of PA Group this week. Yesterday Rebekah Brooks, former editor of The Sun turned chief executive of News International, was appointed as a director."