Cash dwindling at Hollinger Inc

BESIEGED newspaper publisher Hollinger Inc is haemorrhaging cash, with reserves down to $4.3m (£2.3m) from $8.7m just two weeks ago.

Lord Black's Toronto-based company said it is 'closely monitoring its liquidity requirements and is assessing various financing transactions and initiatives'.

It is also pleading for extra time to complete its 2003 financial statements and was today seeking permission to delay its 2004 shareholders' meeting beyond an already extended 30 September deadline.

Hollinger Inc is required by the courts to issue updates every two weeks until it files the statements.

Chief financial officer Fred Creasey is still on medical leave, and it is not known when or if he will return.

Hollinger Inc says it has been unable to file its accounts because it needs more information from associated US company Hollinger International, which was headed by Black until he stood down last year amid accusations of mismanagement.

Hollinger International accounts have been complicated by the release of a damning internal report providing a lurid catalogue of misuses of company money by Black, his wife Barbara Amiel and associates.