Johnston Press has increased its portfolio in the East Midlands with the purchase of four weekly titles from Mortons Media.

The titles include the Horncastle News series, the Louth Leader series, the Skegness News and the Market Rasen Mail. All circulate in Lincolnshire.

They were the core activity of Mortons Media in Lincolnshire. The group was built up between 1959 and 1985, when the newest title the Skegness News, was first published.

They were grouped on a central advertising core – the Trading Post – to form Lincolnshire Independent Newspapers with a paid-for weekly sale of around 25,000 copies.

In the year ended 31 January 2000, the business generated sales of £1.8 million. Attributable net assets at 31 December 2000 were £350,000.

No-one was available for comment at Horncastle-based Mortons.

A spokesman for Johnston confirmed the deal, still subject to approval from the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, would incorporate the four newspapers into the East Midlands Division of Johnston Press.

Johnston Press titles in Lincolnshire already include the Grantham Journal, Grantham Citizen, Lincolnshire Free Press, Rutland and Stamford Mercury, Spalding Guardian and Stamford Citizen, all in the south of the county.

Mortons Media Ltd also produces a variety of localised themed products, including The Lincolnshire, the official newspaper of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Show Society, and the monthly farming magazine Wright’s Register.

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