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Northcliffe to merge with Associated Newspapers

Daily Mail and General Trust is to merge its regional newspapers division with Associated Newspapers.

The regional structure of the company will be organised into new geographical areas, and the new division will be run by former Northcliffe managing director Kevin Beatty, with Northcliffe MD Michael Pelosi reporting to him.

The company wants to take advantage of the combined size and scale to create and operate shared support service centres. Local editors and managers will be able to focus on customers.

There will be a renewed focus on readers and advertisers, with development of a “significantly increased online presence” for Northcliffe to target additional revenues, particularly from online customers.

Today’s statement said: “The board believes that Northcliffe has an excellent future as an integrated provider of local media services.

“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.”

Northcliffe will be restructured managerially into a regional structure, with new regional MDs:

  • North East – Hull, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Lincoln
  • Midlands – Stoke, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Tamworth
  • West – Bristol, Bath, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Swansea
  • South West Dailies – Plymouth, Torquay, Exeter
  • South West Weeklies – Cornwall, Devon
  • South East Weeklies – Chelmsford, Tunbridge Wells

    Steve Anderson-Dixon is the new regional managing director of Northcliffe West, based in Bristol. Andrew Calvert, managing director of Western Newspapers, Andrew Blair, managing director of Gloucestershire Newspapers and Chris Rees, managing director of South West Wales Publications will report to him.

    Alex Leys, will head up the Midlands division and will continue to manage the Leicester Mercury, while Malcolm Pheby, Paul Kearney, Richard Dodd and Heather Wozniak – from the other centres – will report to Alex.

    The South West Dailies, South West Weeklies and South East Weeklies will continue to be managed by Duncan Currall, Tony Hazell and Richard Karn.

    The North East division will be headed by Phil Inman, who will continue to run Hull on a day-to-day basis. Mark Webb, managing director of Grimsby & Scunthorpe and David Waghorne, managing director of Lincoln will report to Phil.

    Ted Glynn will step down as group circulation and marketing director from the end of April.

    Certain operations, including printing, online operations and back office support, will work more closely together.

    Following the announcement, plans for a £50m new press in North Lincolnshire will not now go ahead, despite the closure of the Lincoln press. The move will help the company reduce Northcliffe’s spending from £30m a year to £20m a year, combined with a higher than expected saving of £30m in 18 months instead of an estimated £20m through the Aim Higher initiative.



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