DMGT sells Aberdeen Journals to DC Thomson for £132m

by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 27-Mar-06, 09:15

LONDON - Daily Mail & General Trust is to create a single newspaper division comprising Associated Newspapers and Northcliffe, and has sold Aberdeen Journals to Beano publisher DC Thomson in a £132m deal.

The reorganisation of its newspapers will see Kevin Beatty, managing director of Associated and former managing director of Northcliffe, overseeing the whole division. Michael Pelosi, managing director of Northcliffe, will now report to Beatty.

Northcliffe will retain its identity, but is to be reorganised managerially into a regional structure, and the size of its central support functions will be reduced, possibly leading to job cuts.

A programme of cost reductions at Northcliffe will now deliver savings of at least £45m a year, compared with the £20m it had originally forecast in June last year. It said that plans to open a print plant in the North East had been abandoned.

DMGT underlined its intention to develop online revenues from Northcliffe, only weeks after it called off plans to sell the division because it had not received bids as high as it expected.

A DMGT statement said: "It is positioned to provide its local and national customers with the information and advertising they seek through a range of media channels and brands.

"These will comprise primarily paid-for daily and weekly newspapers, free newspapers and a significantly increased online presence, but will encompass other delivery mechanisms, where appropriate. In particular, the combination of print and online will provide a differentiated product range that will be unequalled in its local markets."

Aberdeen Journals, which publishes the Aberdeen Press & Journal and the Aberdeen Evening Express, had attracted the interest of Johnston Press and Newsquest.

DC Thomson will pay £105m in cash for the business, as well as paying £27m into DMGT's pension schemes when employees are transferred.

Shares in DMGT were trading up by 0.2% to 711.5p this morning, a rise of 1.4p.

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