Natmags Adds To New Media Portfolio

Magazine publisher Natmags has purchased the website handbag.com to add to its growing new media portfolio.

Earlier this year, the company bought netdoctor.co.uk and launched new websites for titles Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan.

The Handbag group publishes four female targeted websites and the core website handbag.com, which was launched in 1999 as a joint venture between Boots and The Daily Telegraph. The site is largely credited with helping persuade advertisers to invest in online adverts.

Duncan Edwards, chief executive of Natmags, said: “NatMags is totally committed to being as important to our customers on-line as we are in print, and this acquisition is a significant step forward in achieving this goal.”

Nancy Cruickshank, managing director of Handbag.com Ltd, added: “Handbag has led the UK market in digital publishing for women over the past seven years, and it is only fitting that we should now join forces with NatMags with their proven track record in traditional publishing. We are incredibly excited and optimistic about the opportunities that NatMags will now offer the business.”

National Magazine Company: 0207 439 5000 www.natmags.co.uk