MIN Buys Newsquest Division For £12m

Midland Independent Newspapers has acquired Newsquest (Midlands North) Ltd, which publishes seven free newspaper titles and four magazines, for £12m. The titles include Birmingham’s Metronews, the Solihull Times and titles in Cannock, Lichfield, Rugely and the Select magazine series.

The businesses to be acquired reported turnover of £11.7 million and pre-tax profits of £546,000 for 1995 and the acquisition is not expected to have any material impact on MIN earnings in 1996. MIN chief executive Chris Oakley said: “This important acquisition allows us to expand our coverage of the West Midlands and offer a better service to our customers.”

Jim Brown, chief executive of Newsquest, commented: “This sale completes a sensible rationalisation of our business. The North Midlands is an area where we were not at our strongest. MIN are in a position to do much more for the titles. We continue to move ahead with our plans for newspaper acquisitions elsewhere.”

MIN has also announced the sale of its free newspaper the Nottingham Herald & Post to Topper Newspapers Ltd and the closure of the Leicester Herald & Post. Both of these titles were loss making and together were worth around £2.6 million.

Meanwhile, as part of its acquisition plans, Newsquest Media has revealed that it is interested in buying Westminster Press. Though no details were forthcoming, Jim Brown confirmed to MediaTel that Newsquest is definitely interested in acquiring the Westminster titles which were put up for sale by Pearson at the end of last month *(Newsline 26/06).

* MediaTel subscribers only

Midland Independent Newspapers: 0121 236 3366

Newsquest Media: 0171 420 2700