City AM, the business freesheet, is set to launch in Manchester and Edinburgh next year in its first venture outside of London.
A regional edition of the weekday freesheet, which will aim to distribute 17,000 extra copies across the two cities, will feature local editorial and advertising content, according to reports.
Lawson Muncaster, City AM‘s managing director, told the Guardian: “If we reach our business objectives from now till the end of the year we will start looking at a regional rollout in the early part of 2009, and the first two places that we have identified for hand-distribution and corporate delivery will be Manchester and Edinburgh.”
Muncaster said that in terms of distribution, September has been the “best month” since the freesheet launched in London, despite the current economic climate in the city.
He added: “The editorial product will be very much based on the existing paper itself because we know businesspeople look to London for what’s going on.”
City AM reportedly wants to launch in three or four regional cities, distributing up to 50,000 copies outside of the capital.
The freesheet, which launched in 2005, currently distributes more than 80,000 copies in London’s financial districts each weekday.
City AM: www.cityam.com