Newsagents will “seriously think twice” about stocking a regional publisher’s newspapers amid a row over margins, their trade body has warned.

The Federation of Independent Retailers has shared its “anger and dismay” at Newsquest after claiming the publisher will be reducing retailers’ margins at the same time as increasing the price of a number of daily and weekly titles.

The newsagents’ trade body, which is also known as the NFRN, says the prices of the Worcester News, Swindon Advertiser and North Wales daily The Leader are due to increase from 75p to 80p from Monday.

The Oxford Mail will also go up 7p per day to 85p and the Lancashire Telegraph will rise by 3p to 75p per edition, while the “majority” of Newsquest’s weeklies will be subject to increases of 5p or 10p per copy.

At the same time, according to the NFRN, the publisher intends to reduce its terms to retailers from 15pc to 14.5pc in the case of the vast majority of its titles.

NFRN head of news and connect Brian Murphy, pictured, said: “Over the last year, other major publishers including DMG Media, Reach, News UK, and GNM have all included pro rata terms for retailers as part of price increases to their titles.

“These publishers recognised and publicly acknowledged the vital part independent newsagents and retailers have played to maintain and increase sales of newspapers during the Covid pandemic.

“The decision made by Newsquest is nothing short of disgraceful and shows a total lack of appreciation for the independent retail sector.”

In a further statement, the NFRN added: “The NFRN warned that its members who are affected by the changes may seriously think twice about continuing to stock these Newsquest titles, adding that retailers could be tempted to use shelf space to sell other titles or products with greater profit margins.”

In response, a Newsquest spokesman said: “In most cases retailers will actually see above inflation increases in the income and pence per copy they receive through the sale of our products, not a reduction.

“Our management teams monitor pricing carefully, taking into account a range of factors in determining increases as well as the share of any increase that’s given over to retailers.

“Newsprint is a big part of the overall cost of a newspaper, and the cost of newsprint has more than doubled in the last twelve months.

“Our local teams are working hard to absorb these increases but, given the scale of the price inflation in newsprint, we have no choice but to pass-on some of the increase in price.

“Our teams strive to find the right balance between limiting the impact of increasing prices on readers and ensuring our retailers are properly rewarded for their services.

“We are very grateful to our retail partners for their longstanding support and we trust that they understand that we are doing all we can to maintain sales and to increase the amount of money they receive for each newspaper.”