A regional publisher has announced cover price rises of up to 30p at more than 40 titles it runs.

Reach plc has implemented the increases at weekly and Sunday newspapers across England, Scotland and Wales over the past fortnight.

The company declined to explain the reason for the increases when approached by HTFP, and has also declined to say whether readers have been given an explanation in print.

However chief executive Jim Mullen mentioned in a trading update last week that the move had contributed to an uplift in print circulation revenues.

Said Jim: “Print revenue has remained strong with volumes remaining robust and circulation revenue benefitting from cover price increases.”

The update revealed that print circulation increased by 2.1pc year-on-year during the first four months of 2023, with digital revenues falling 14.5pc due to a “page view slowdown.”

Although the cover price rises affect mainly weekly titles, the Sunday editions of the Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News, well as Newcastle’s Sunday Sun are also affected.

Increases have also been implemented at bi-weeklies the Rochdale Observer and Stirling Observer.

Pro-rata terms for newsagents remain, according to the National Federation of Retail Newsagents.

A full list of the affected titles and the change in price is as follows: