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Managers take control of local newspaper publisher

A management buy-out team has taken control of a local newspaper publisher after it collapsed owing more than £25m.

Dunfermline Press, whose subsidiaries include Clyde Weekly Press and the Berkshire Media Group, is now 90pc owned by the Bank of Scotland, which had been its major creditor.

The other 10pc of the company is owned by a management buy-out team including directors John Allwood, Graham Morrison and Graham Faulds.

They have renamed the new company Romanes Media Group in honour of its founder, Deirdre Romanes, who died in May 2010 after a long battle with cancer.

Dunfermline Press, previously one of Scotland’s largest newspaper groups, was placed in receivership last week

Estimates of the level of the company’s debt have varied between £25m and £40m, but the bank has now agreed to write off the sum.

The directors said in a statement: “Having worked within the business for a number of years we are delighted to be able to participate fully in the future development of this business.

“We believe this is the start of a new chapter in the strategic development of Dunfermline Press.”

The receiver, Bruce Cartwright, added: “This is a business that has continued to perform during difficult trading conditions.

“The restructuring of the holding company, supported by such an experienced management team, is an extremely positive step for the business, its employees, its customers and all its associated suppliers.”

The Berkshire Media Group includes the Reading Chronicle, Bracknell & Wokingham News Series, Slough & South Bucks Observer and the Newbury & Thatcham Chronicle among its portfolio.

Scottish titles owned by the company include Greenock Telegraph, Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser, East Lothian Courier, Border Telegraph, Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Advertiser, Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald and Ayr Advertiser.

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  • April 23, 2012 at 4:13 pm
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    Fortune favours the brave!
    Someone out there must know how to run a group of newspapers successfully.

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  • April 24, 2012 at 8:33 am
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    Hang on a minute…..managers take control? Surely the bank owning 90 per cent must be in control?

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  • April 24, 2012 at 10:44 am
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    Are these the same managers whose skills resulted in the £25m debt? Must be trusting folk at the Bank of Scotland.

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  • April 24, 2012 at 3:28 pm
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    The Greenock Telegraph was the most successful evening paper in Scotland in terms of sales per capita and household prior to being bought over by Clyde and Forth Press, a subsidiary of Dunfermline Press. Graham Morrison took pover control after the takeover and brought in a young editor. He had very limited experience and radically altered the format of the Greenock Telegraph, turning it into a downmarket redtop. This was very much against the wishes of the senior, largely local, staff. These people, inluding myself, were sidelined and eventually weeded out. Result? A dramatic drop in circulation, not due to the intrernet or economic collapse of 2008. The management who ruined the Greenock Telegraph are now in charge, backed by a bank who clearly have no concept of due diligence.

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  • April 25, 2012 at 10:35 am
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    The experience of the Tele in Greenock is similar to that in Ardrossan with the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald..

    From being a vibrant local paper the rag now mainly consists of short paragraphs from stringers in other towns so that no matter where you’re from you feel short changed.

    The proportion of news has also dropped with an in-built bias in favour of the local Labour party meaning that anything that may be seen to be critical of them is removed. This leads to the crazy situation of news about Ardrossan and Saltcoats being covered in another of their titles, the Irvine Times, but not in the, supposedly, local paper.

    The bottom line is that people are looking elsewhere for their news and their circulation has dropped like a stone with people buying the paper only when their kids are shown in a picture. It’s a sad end for a proud paper.

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