Emap has agreed to sell off its French Consumer Magazines division, Emap France, to the Italian media group Mondadori for approximately £380 million.
Emap announced its plans to sell its French operations in February, in order to return the cash generated to shareholders (see
Emap To Sell French Operations).
When the sale (conditional on the receipt of European regulatory clearance) has been completed, Emap proposes to return to shareholders £285 million, representing over £1 per share in issue and approximately 75% of the sale proceeds.
Tom Moloney, group chief executive of Emap, said: “Emap will now be allocating more resource, including launch spend, onto faster growth platforms. The sale of Emap France is in line with this strategy, and also allows us to return to shareholders a significant portion of the value created during our period as a French consumer magazine publisher.
“Emap France is a well positioned business which will continue to grow and prosper under new ownership. We wish our former colleagues and their new owners, Mondadori, with whom we enjoy a strong collaborative relationship, every commercial success in the future.”
Emap recently announced a 9% rise in pre-tax profits to £223 million for the year ending March 2005 (see Revenue Rise For Emap)
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