Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror is to change its name to Reach plc after deciding the present name “no longer reflects” the business.
The move, announced on the day TM published its annual results for 2017, is expected to be approved by shareholders at the next annual general meeting, to be held on 3 May.
Trinity Mirror had its roots in the merger between Trinity plc, the then publisher of the Liverpool Echo and other regional titles, and the Mirror group in 1999.
However the group has grown exponentially since then, with the Manchester Evening News acquired in 2008, fellow regional publisher Local World in 2014, and most recently the Northern & Shell group, publishers of the Daily Express.
The company said in a statement: “Subject to shareholder approval at the next Annual General Meeting, Trinity Mirror is pleased to announce that it will be changing its name to Reach plc.
“Trinity Mirror has evolved significantly since it was formed in September 1999 following the merger of Trinity plc and Mirror Group plc, particularly since the acquisition of publishing assets from Northern & Shell and Local World. As such, the name no longer accurately reflects the Company.”
Chief executive Simon Fox said, pictured, said: “Through our content we reach millions of people every day. Our reach extends across multiple platforms in both print and digital and across the cities and communities that we serve.
“We think this is a name which better reflects what we do and what our ambitions are.”
The move was announced as TM’s annual results showed a 12.6pc fall in overall revenues during 2017 from £713m to £623m.
Pre-tax profits were down from £133.2m in 2016 to £122.5m last year.
The figures show that TM exceeded its £15m structural cost savings target of £2om by £5m and is targeting a further £15m in structural cost savings this year.
Commenting on the results, Mr Fox said: “We once again delivered a strong financial performance in what remains a difficult trading environment for the industry.”
The company’s annual report, which was also published today, showed that national advertising revenues declined by 9.8pc last year while regional advertising revenues were down 11.9pc.
Print advertising revenues for regional newsbrands were down 14,5pc while digital advertising was down 1.7pc – in contrast to the national newsbrands which saw a 2.1pc in digital revenues.
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“Reach”, eh?
Perhaps the LCONFTSOI – Let’s Change Our Name For The Sake Of It – brigade are trying to emulate the Post Office’s success with “Insignia”.
That went down well…
I predict it’ll last as long as “Local World”.
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Change of name? Why not, it worked for Windscale, didn’t it?
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Had to chuckle at this. One question: how much is it going to cost? And can I throw my hat in the ring with Death By A Thousand Cuts plc.
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OK, just replace the ‘a’ in Reach for a ‘t’.
Another £15m worth of structural savings this year, huh? Chain-mail underwear on again.
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See a clinic full of cynics
Who want to twist the peoples’ wrist
They’re watching every move we make
We’re all included on the list
The lunatics have taken over the asylum…
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Presumably soneone told the boys and girls who brainstormed this new name that the .co.uk and .com suffixes for Reach are already taken?
A small point maybe but perhaps illustrative of the more wider muddled thinking and thrashing around on strategy we have come to expect from latter day ‘leaders’ in the UK regional press.
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My name no longer reflects what I was born with, I think I’ll change it to, err, Tree.
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And, crucially, not to be confused with Reach Ltd, which runs care homes in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.
Though, to be fair,TM does its fair share of looking after those who are no longer able to live independent lives; they’re called senior managers.
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Reach …
….for a sick bag
….for your P45
….for the cheque book for a no doubt highly-paid brand consultant to come up with such tosh
And has anyone else got S Club 7 as an earworm now, or just me?
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Perhaps they think a renaming of the sinking ship will divert attention from the real issues that ought to matter to all concerned, notably a £90 million revenue fall and a loss of £11million in profits year on year coupled with national ad revenue down by almost 10% and local advertising down even more.
I’m sure the shareholders would be more intested in those little trivialities as opposed to a timely smokescreen renaming exercise,no doubt a significant cost in itself
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Sure it’s not RETCH ?
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Hmmm… Reach around anyone?
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Why is it most people on here can have a laugh and a joke, but there’s always one – Steerpike in this case – who has start insulting people he or she presumably hasn’t met?
And probably wouldn’t say it their faces either. Can’t we just keep it friendly on here?
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Re branding is a pointless and costly vanity tactic which will merely alienates their traditional audience at a time when they cannot afford to suffer any more losses, just ask Archant; aka Eastern Counties Newspapers,the new name meant nothing to the public then and it means even less now and was the start of a long and steady slide downwards once people lost affinity and loyalty to the company and titles they grew up with.
it’s as if Trinity Mirror are ashamed of themselves and believe by adopting a new name and wearing a new suit of clothes people will forget what’s gone on before…..
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Reach? Sounds like a toilet cleaner.
Whilst many are being made redundant, how much is the re-brand costing?
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Mr, or Ms, Tippex presumes wrongly.
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Wish they’d consulted me first. I’ve been coming up with alternative names for Trinity Mirror for years – I could’ve supplied hundreds. Some are even printable.
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Well I never. I wasn’t expecting that.
Certainly helps deflect attention from the truly awful regional digital revenue number – actually going backwards.
Of all the words in the dictionary, I’m not sure I’d have chosen that one, though.
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What a complete bunch of jokers. In the midst of continous redundancies, title closures and shrinking revenues let’s waste large sums of cash and man hours rebranding the business to achieve absolutely nothing.
But any of us fortunate enough to have been in the presence of these captains of industry would I’m sure expect nothing less. Some of the rubbish spouted between buzz words is cringeworthy
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After @steerpikes reply will you be correcting yourself @Tippex ?
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As someone who was made redundant by both Trinity Mirror & Newsquest in a forty year career in local press I take a particular interest in these publishers and their statements. What is most telling about this latest TM annual report appears in the last paragraph – regional newsbrands digital revenue down 1.7%. Now this is revenue, what really matters, not clicks or likes! After all the pain inflicted on print products was digital not supposed to be the future? By the way, now I work for an independent newspaper and loving the job once again!
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The point about digital revenue and its bad performance is key @Survivor, previously it’s been percentage growth, y/y likes and increase that’s reported but this just shows that pinning all your hopes on digital is proving a false dream, for TM …sorry ‘Reach’ and the other bigger news groups this is a very very worrying statistic, especially when they’ve allowed their print products to die a very public death, posing the question where will the revenue come from now?
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If this wasn’t so serious I would burst out laughing!
The Trinity Mirror ‘suit’ talks about the company having “evolved significantly”. By that he means they have taken over other newspaper companies and started / about to start the same programme of cost-cutting.
He then says Reach is a “name which better reflects what we do and what our ambitions are”. This translates to slashing ever more jobs.
And the evidence for this? TM has exceeded its massive cost savings by £5 million with another £15m now planned.
And the evidence that TM’s cost-cutting approach is doing so well? Annual results showed a further 12.6 per cent fall in overall revenues!
You can’t make it up, but this is going to result in even more good, hard-working journalists losing their jobs while TM continues on its slash & burn policy to keep the shareholders happy for just one more year or two.
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Doesn’t say much for the Mirror brand, does it?
Just Mirror, I could understand… and they could ‘redact’ the word Trinity on their stationery with a black felt tip. Hey Presto!
That’ll be £500,000 please.
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Survivor makes a point which is often made on here, that there is no link between likes and clicks (readers) and revenue online. The more page views you get, the more money you make. The 1.7% fall only shows that money from page views isn’t making up for the collapse of classifieds. So much for paying close attention Survivor!
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Why does Mr Fox look so pleased with himself?
Has he forgotten important lessons learned from HMV, Waterstones and The New Day.
Renaming the company “Reach” – come on! Enough already. Share price disaster.
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Is this not purely Trinity Mirror wanting to distance itself from phone hacking and a tainted brand?
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I guess the benefit to the staff in all this must be;
“Where do you work?”
‘Reach’
“ never heard of it”
Which will be a vast improvement on the current response:
“Where do you work?”
“Trinity Mirror”
“Oh dear, you poor soul”
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“targeting a further £15m in structural cost savings this year.”
I’m a tad confused as to why TM buy so many media companies to then hack the life out of them & £15m cost savings….will there be anyone left????
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Reach!!!!!! Reaching on for your lives to save jobs more like it.
Another 20 redundancies from Liverpool Echo leaving next week
Liverpool Echo 4 floor building sold
Newcastle Chronicle building sold
Moving into 1 small serviced office building in each area.
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