It has a cover price of £1.95 (though its website still states it as £1.60) - costing regular subscribers over £100 per year. It claims a circulation of 22,000 and an "estimated" readership of 100,000 each week. The Recorder withdrew from the certification scheme of the Audit Bureau of Circulation in 1991.
Update: see more recent post to read about the Recorder "online"
It is led by a seven strong board, six of whom are non-executive directors, only one non-executive is a woman and no directors are from British Methodism's diverse ethnic minority membership.
The non-executive directors are Steven Wild, Michael Taylor, Ann Pardoe, John Newton, Christopher Hughes-Smith, and John Aldridge. Three are in their 80s, two in their 70s and one in his late 50s. Their average age is 75 years 6 months. There is only one executive director and she reduces the average age to 71. This means the board has fve men to two women. All live in England south of Nottinghamshire.*
The company's publicly available abbreviated return reports (31/12/2010) total assets valued at £570, 491. The abbreviated accounts do not provide an accessible profit and loss account, but comply with the appropriate provisions of the 2006 Companies Act. In 2005 the company reported total assets of £633, 954.
In January of this year all the company's assets, which included the freehold and leasehold of the newspaper's premises in Golden Lane, London, were mortgaged to the Methodist Newspaper Retirement Benefit Scheme.
There are one hundred issued shares with a nominal value of £25. The 89 shareholders currently listed with one share each are: David Blatherwick, Peter Blatherwick, Stuart Burgess, Ronald Gibbins, Anthony Reddie, Donald Sampson, Ann Sherperdson, S Wild, Mary Ludlow, John Atkinson, Michael Bray, Gladys Dawson, David Ensor, Douglas Hopwood, Alma Hunt, Elizabeth Hulbert, Brian Greet, Kenneth Wilson, R Pile, Colin Smith, Peter Sutcliffe, Martin Turner, Eunice Irvine, Paul Harrington, Robert Hinton, Avril Bottoms, D Brown, Ronald Charlton, J Reddall, Keith Garner, C Smith, Michael Taylor, R Arnold, Doreen Hare, Ian Haile, Martin Wellings, F Smith, William Burt, Peter Howdle, Paul Flowers, Paul Hulme, Nicola Jones, Frances Young, Michael Hill, Stephen Parish, Leslie Griffiths, Ivan Weekes, Rob Hufton, Colin Morris, John Aldridge, Lucy Rogers, Barry Weetman, John Newton, Stuart Bell, Ann Pardoe, David Wigley, John Gray, Trevor Bell, J Bridge, Brian Thornton, Paul Kinvig, John Maclure, Moira Sleight, Kenneth Greet, David Holland, Arthur Simmons, Martin Forward, Timothy Macquiban, John Dale, Ian Rigby, Bryan Coates, Margaret Jarvis, John Withinshaw, Margaret Daniels, Martin Hunt, D Rutter, Neil Richardson, John Singleton, Stephen Plant, Janet Sinclair, M D Atkins, Judy Jarvis, Tom Stuckey, T E J Styche, Rosemary Wells, L P M Sleight, David Hart.*
Methodist Newspaper is a private company limited by shares and was incorporated 13 March 1863
* Source annual return submitted 04/04/2011
UPDATE: A fascinating interview with John Aldridge, Chair of the Methodist Recorder board, has just been released by the Methodist Church media team. When it comes to new forms of communications John says the right things but then says the Recorder website - the one that says the cover price in £1.60 - is "OK", which it clearly isn't. He also confirms what a lot have thought for some time, that the finances for the future of the Recorder are dependent on the property portfolio, which he doesn't mention has now been mortgaged to its pension fund! The Recorder really could be a vibrant communications hub if it took new media seriously. http://www.methodist.org.u
