Regional publisher Archant has announced the sale of three of its specialist consumer magazine titles.
The company has sold The English Home, The English Garden and Discover Britain to the Chelsea Magazine Company.
The sale was completed at the beginning of April for an undisclosed sum and around 20 Archant staff members transferred to Chelsea Magazines, which is now leasing the top floor of Archant’s Cheltenham office.
Archant bought the titles, along with a number of others, when it acquired the Romsey Publishing Group in January 2005.
Archant chief executive Jeff Henry said: “As part of our strategy, the company is focussing on markets where we are in a leadership position or where there is a clear path toward leadership.
“This has meant that we have looked closely at our portfolio and can now confirm that the titles have been sold to the Chelsea Magazine Company.”
Archant development director Kevin Whitchurch added: “We’re thrilled that these terrific brands have found a welcoming home at Chelsea.
“We wish the staff and magazines the very best in their continued development.”
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I have been “focussed” (sic) on finding a “clear leadership path” for most of my life but it’s eluding me still. However, I am “thrilled” to lose something “terrific” I’ve owned for 10 years – that is, a blooming great cost centre in the accounts with about 20 sets of employees’ rights, employer’s NI contributions, pensions, etc. I bet those staff are now mulling their safe and secure future with Chelsea, which if it’s anything like the football club will provide them with lifelong careers.
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And so the offloading begins
If they plan on focussing on markets where they are in a leadership position only then looking at the shocking ABC figures one would assume that some of their Norfolk and Suffolk titles could be next?
Any coincidence that they have removed the EDP and NEN branding from the front of their Norwich HQ, in readiness maybe?
Watch this space
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They’re so thrilled about these terrific brands that they’re offloading them pdq.
I wonder where Jeff Henry feels that Archant are in ‘leadership positions’? or have ‘clear paths to leadership’?
Certainly looking at the latest diabolical sales figures it’s not in East Anglia that’s for sure.
Time to step off the top floor Mr H and speak to the thousands of readers and advertisers who’ve voted with their feet and turned their backs,or to the demoralised staff,targeted and pushed more and more for less and less then you might get a clearer understanding of where you feel your strengths might lie.
With more quality competition than ever including free newspapers in the west ,quality magazines in the east and north of the patch and no longer in a monopolistic position,it will be interesting to see what other ‘terrific’ brands you feel deserve a better home in the coming months.
Worrying times at Archant towers and its out posts
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Interesting to note, scribe, that the branding virus has spread. Newspaper boys and girls once delivered local papers from shoulder bags clearly marked Eastern Daily Press or Evening News – now, the bags are stamped with the meaningless Archant.
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There’s no local identity in any aspect of the East business Citizen, ,just the laughably sad ‘One Archant’ mantra which is one of the reasons people don’t feel any affinity to the papers that they used to.
Couple this with the obvious dumbing down of the papers and staff,the lack of real journalists and journalism and the ingrained ‘yes man’ culture and you end up with a company top heavy with managers not managing and headed south at a rate of knots.
When the bean counters and non news medium boys take over as they have done here the emphasis goes from quality reportage and customer driven commercial focus to chasing a quick buck, where every decision is looked at solely in terms of costs and profit, important but not when set against losing sight of why people buy, read and advertise in local papers in the first place.
With one disaster following another banana skin, following an almost weekly own goal it’s easy to see how far they’ve fallen and impossible to see how they can recover.
Oh, and on top of this there’s the Evening News and Mustard TV but the least said about those two disasters the better.
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