After just two years on the job, Group chief executive officer of One Caribbean Media Ltd (OCM), Dr Terrence Farrell, has resigned.

OCM chairman Sir Fred Gollop said in a statement issued on June 23 that Dr. Farrell had “elected to leave the company with effect from June 30, having decided to devote more of his time on the development of a family-owned business.”

’I wish to express the appreciation of the board for the strategic thinking and initiatives which Dr Farrell brought to the organisation over the last two years, which I am sure will continue to benefit OCM in the years ahead,’ Sir Fred said.

Dr. Farrell’s departure came shortly after the group announced an increase in net profit for the first quarter of 2010 on flat revenue, mainly due to cost-cutting and other budget-tightening measures implemented due to the recession and a steep drop in advertising spending in all the countries in which it operates.

For the first quarter of 2010 (to March 31), OCM reported a profit attributable to shareholders of  Bds$3.6 million, which was 20% above the result for the same period last year (Bds$3m). Revenue for the period was Bds$32.6m, one percent below the $33m earned for the same period last year.

Dr. Farrell had been brought on board, according to Sir Fred, writing in the company’s 2008 annual report, to guide the transformation of OCM “into an even more significant Caribbean brand,” as well as to further develop “our regional initiative in media and related enterprises.”

But almost as soon as he started on the job the company’s financial picture began to change dramatically. According to Dr. Farrell, also writing in the company’s financial report for the year, “In the first three quarters of the year (2008), revenue growth was a robust 13 per cent and profit after tax was 18 per cent higher than in the corresponding period in 2007….However, as the global economic and financial systems began to melt down, oil and gas prices collapsed, tourism faltered, and uncertainty increased, there ensued a significant fall off in advertising revenues for the fourth quarter of 2008 across Group companies in all territories.” As a result, he wrote, “The dramatic slowdown in the fourth quarter (of 2008) resulted in revenue growth for the year of just 6.3 per cent.”

In figures, the 2007 net profit was Bds$28m on revenue of Bds$153m. The following year, 2008, net profit increased slightly to Bds$28.4m on revenue of Bds$162.6m.

OCM continued to feel the effect of the economic recession in the region last year, posting a net profit of Bds$23.6m, a 17% decrease over 2008, on revenue of Bds$145m, a drop of close to 11% on the previous year.

OCM is the largest and most diversified media organisation in the Caribbean, with businesses in newspapers, radio, television, Internet and new media. It operates in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Grenada and St Lucia. It owns the Trinidad Express and CCN-TV6 in Trinidad and the Nation newspaper in Barbados.