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Highbury Housee Communications shareholders have approved the group’s £32 million acquisition of video game magazine publisher, Paragon Publishing (see Highbury House To Buy Paragon Publishing For £32m). Highbury says that the deal will create one of the UK’s leading special interest consumer publishers and the third largest publicly-quoted consumer magazine publishing group. As part of… Continue reading Shareholders Approve Highbury’s £32m Paragon Acquisition

BSkyB has sold its 9.9% stake in Chelsea Football Club to Roman Abramovich, the Russian oil billionaire for an undisclosed amount. The satellite broadcaster has already written off most of its £40 million investment in Chelsea which is now almost wholly owned by Mr Abramovich. According to The Times, BSkyB will receive £5.9 million for… Continue reading BSkyB Cuts Its Losses In Chelsea

First quarter underlying revenues at GWR Group were up by 0.4% year on year, driven by a good performance at the Local Radio Group (LRG). Strong national spend helped push LRG’s Q1 revenues up by 8%. At Classic FM, however, advertising has remained volatile, with a 16% dive in Q1 revenues, largely as a result… Continue reading Local Radio Group Helps GWR Stay Positive

French advertising and marketing giant Havas has confirmed that it is to undergo major reorganisation as it seeks to boost revenues in “challenging” market conditions. Havas, the world’s sixth-largest advertising group, said today that revenues had fallen by 19% to €836 million in the first half. This was attributed mainly to the recent rise in… Continue reading Havas Takes Steps To Reverse Sales Decline

Telewest Communications today announced reduced losses for the first six months of 2003 as it prepares to hand control to bondholders in a debt-for-equity swap. The cable company said that total sales were flat at £674 million but spending cuts have enabled it to trim net loss by 13% from £239 million in the first… Continue reading Telewest Looks To Turn Corner In Second Half

Trinity Mirror has announced plans to dispose of its Northern Ireland newspaper division, confirming rumours that the business would be sold as part of a broader structural review of the company (see Trinity May Sell Irish Titles). The division comprises the Derry Journal and Century Press & Publishing businesses which produce six titles in Northern… Continue reading Trinity Mirror Review Sheds NI Titles, Retains Nationals

Chrysalis Group has this afternoon confirmed the sale of its television assets to a trio of former ITV executives, following a preliminary agreement announced in April (see Chrysalis To Sell Television Group To Former ITV Heads). Steve Morrison (former Granada chief executive), Jules Burns (former managing director of operations at Granada) and David Liddiment (former… Continue reading Chrysalis Makes £45m TV Sale To Former ITV Heads

Ecommerce will account for 10% of all retail sales in the United States by 2008, valuing the sector at $230 billion, according to forecasts from Forrester Research. Whilst growth has slowed since the boom period of 1997-2002, more and more people are connecting to the web and retailers are improving their services each year, ensuring… Continue reading Ecommerce Will Take 10% Of All US Retail In 2008, Says Forrester

Clear Channel Communications, the leading radio station owner in the US, has reported an increase in second quarter profits despite a slight drop in radio advertising revenue. Revenues in the three months to the end of June climbed by 6.6% year on year to $2.32 billion. Quarterly earnings came to $251.3 million, up from $238.0… Continue reading Profits Grow At Clear Channel

Hollywood film studio, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), is understood to have withdrawn its $11.5 billion offer for the US entertainment assets of Vivendi Universal, after the French group asked for a higher price for the business. Vivendi is now thought to be asking for no less than $14 billion for the Vivendi Universal Entertainment (VUE)… Continue reading Vivendi Entertainment Price Is Too High For MGM