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Ownership Brief

Ownership Brief

Speculation over the sale of Scottish Radio Holdings continued throughout the festive season. SMG failed to make a full bid for the group despite increasing its stake in its rival to 20.8% following a planned relaxation in legislation in the Government’s White Paper. SRH has said it would consider a stock purchase by SMG as hostile. Meanwhile, publishing group DC Thomson also raised its stake in the group from 6% to over 8% but would not comment on reports that it had been invited to launch a friendly bid for the group.

…consolidation within the radio industry continued apace as Guardian Media Group increased its stake in Jazz FM to 19%.

…Pearson, the publisher of the Financial Times, bought a stake in US-based MarketWatch.com. The deal will see the group pay £18m in cash to become an equal shareholder in the online financial information provider with CBS.

…Cordiant Communications is to buy Microarts, a US e-business consultancy for £63m. Michael Bungey, CEO of CCG commented: ‘The acquisition of MicroArts is an exciting opportunity which strengthens CCG’s interactive capabilities. Developing new and existing brands online will be an essential part of every company’s future strategy. With MicroArts and CCG.XM we are ideally placed to service on-line brands and exploit the growth potential of this market.’

…United Business Media is expected to put its classified advertising titles, Exchange & Mart and Dalton’s Weekly, up for sale as part of its continued refocussing programme. The titles are believed to be worth £180m.

…There were mixed reports on the health of e-commerce during the run-up to Christmas. The British Retail Consortium claimed that shopping on the web accounted for 1% of total Christmas shopping, or £400m, compared to virtually nothing last year. But Retail Intelligence said that Christmas sales accounted for just 0.2% of total spend. Yahoo and Lastminute.com reported a doubling in sales during December compared to last year but Letsbuyit.com became the latest dotcom victim when it ran into financial difficulties and announced it would soon be closing to new orders.

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