Associated Print Investment Brings Full Colour Papers

Associated Newspapers is to invest nearly £100 million in new printing facilities, with the announcement that it will build a new £80 million plant near Oxford and spend an additional £16 million on its Harmsworth Quays site in London.

The publisher, which is wholly owned by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), announced the move this morning, which will see the new site built on brownfield land in Didcot, Oxfordshire. The site will be a state-of-the-art facility, using Flexo presses ordered from Italian manufacturer, Giovanni Cerutti Spa.

The move will allow Associated to produce every page of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday in full colour, with the new sites able to print a 128 page full colour Daily Mail and a 160 page Mail on Sunday.

Commenting on the expansion, Lord Rothermere, chairman of Associated Newspapers, said: “This is further evidence of our commitment to the long term future of our newspapers. At present on our presses at Harmsworth Quays in London, we can produce half our pages in colour, but with the addition of the new facilities at Didcot and enhancements to our existing press facilities we will have the capacity to provide full high quality colour throughout the country, providing even more value to our readers and advertisers.”

Associated expects its new printing site to come online in 2008, with the area chosen because of its excellent transport links to the rest of the UK.

The Daily Mail has seen its circulation dip recently, in line with the wide-ranging depression felt by the national newspaper market as a whole. The title lost 2.7% of sales year on year in April, but remains the nation’s second-best selling daily title, behind the Sun, with a circulation of 2.4 million.

The Mail on Sunday, meanwhile, has seen an even larger downturn in sales, shedding 3.3% year on year to 2.3 million.

The Daily Mail & General Trust: 020 7938 6747 www.dmgt.co.uk