The chief executive of Daily Mail and General Trust has made clear that the company will not attempt to expand its regional press portfolio.
Speaking after publication of the company’s annual results yesterday, Martin Morgan said that while he could see the benefits of consolidation in the regional sector, he would not be looking to buy a rival.
“We can see that there could be benefits from consolidation … [however] we don’t see ourselves putting additional capital in for us to be a consolidator,” he said.
His comments follow newspaper speculation earlier this year that DMGT’s regional arm, Northcliffe Media, could be offloaded to either Trinity Mirror or Johnston Press
Speaking yesterday, Mr Morgan denied that DMGT’s reluctance to initiate consolidation meant that it was “abandoning” its own regional newspaper portfolio.
“We don’t see ourselves taking the initiative in consolidation in the industry,” he said.
He added that he also did not see much likelihood, in current market conditions, of much “fresh equity” coming into the market to enable any other regional press company to drive consolidation either.
The Sunday Times claimed in a report published in July that DMGT was engaged in talks to sell Northcliffe to Trinity or Johnston in return for a minority stake in the enlarged company. The company strongly denied the report at the time.
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I used to work for Northcliffe then moved onto Johnston Press due to the redundancy of subs. Whoever is in charge, DO NOT under any circumstances, let Johnston Press get their hands on you. Shocking company, shocking papers. Northcliffe, you have class, keep it that way.
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Oscar: Northcliffe has now neither class nor subs (except for a very few). Seems to me the big three publishers are all as bad as each other, kicking competent people out of jobs, ruining their products and then crowing about increasing profits for fat-cat bosses and fatter-cat shareholders. It’s all very short-term, of course. For the sake of the public interest, more power to the Ray Tindles of this world!
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