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Newspaper group increases Johnston Press stake

Tindle Newspapers has increased its stake in rival Johnston Press to more than 4pc, becoming its fourth biggest shareholder.

The Guardian reports that the family-owned regional newspaper group, owned by Sir Ray Tindle, and with more than 200 weekly newspapers, has seized on Johnston’s low share price to increase its share of the company to 27.9m shares worth £1.39m.

Tindle’s stake in the regional newspaper publisher has now increased to 4.36pc.

The biggest shareholder is PanOcean Management, the investment company of Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan. In 2008 it spent almost £43m buying 20.0pc of the company.

The second biggest stake holder is Orbis Holdings with 10.7pc, and Jupiter Asset Management is third with 4.6pc.

The Guardian quoted a city source as saying that the move reflected the confidence of Tindle chairman and founder Sir Ray Tindle in the durability of the local newspaper market in the face of online competition.

“Clearly Tindle think that the share price is low and could bounce back but it is unlikely that the majority shareholder would allow a takeover because its shares were bought at a much higher level,” said the source.

“And whoever takes over Johnston would have to take over quite a substantial debt so it is questionable whether this would be a sensible move anyway.”

Last week Johnston Press announced a 25pc fall in profits for the first half of the year.

The half-yearly figures revealed that the group made an operating profit of £32.6m in the six months up to the end of June compared to £44m in the same period in 2010.

Overall revenues declined 7.5pc from £207.3m in the first half of 2010 to £191.8m this year, but circulation revenues were more resilient, falling by just 1.8pc.

 

 

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  • August 31, 2011 at 11:48 am
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    This looks to me like good news for those who admire Ray Tindle style – and his genuine love of newspapers. I don’t think he’s buying at the bottom with a bet that JP’s price will rise. No, more likely he’ll buy Jupiter Asset’s holding (or at least enter into an agreement with them) so they/he can speak for 10per cent of the shares – a threshold which will make them/him a significant minority shareholder whose views and proposals JP must take notice of, under the rules of commercial law. So, a typical piece of Tindall smart thinking, I’d say. Oh, and if JP’s price does go up, well that will make a good Plan B. Boom-boom!

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