Sharewatch: Daily Mail Rises As Media Stocks Bounce Back

The majority of media stocks regained lost ground yesterday, with only a handful failing to increase their share price. Daily Mail and General Trust was amongst the strongest performers, rising by 1.32% ahead of the publisher acquiring Bargain Pages Media this morning.

The move was completed by DMGT’s regional newspaper division, Northcliffe Newspapers Group, for a total of £8.5 million. The Birmingham based Bargain Pages operation covers most of the midlands, including Coventry and the Black Country, with a combined weekly sale of around 50,000 copies.

Meanwhile, cross-media giant Emap saw shares rise 1.22% higher yesterday to close at 745p. The company recently secured a £1 million promotional deal with Virgin Mobile to sponsor the Bam Bam Breakfast show on its London-based Kiss FM (see Emap Signs Virgin For Kiss Breakfast Show Sponsorship).

Elsewhere, UBC Media put in the day’s worst performance with shares dipping by 2.33% to close at 21p. Last week the company confirmed its intentions to work with Channel 4 on a digital radio station, to be developed from its existing oneword service (see UBC Announces Plans For Radio With Channel 4).

The FTSE 100 closed at a nine-week high yesterday, following increased ferocity in the battle for control of Abbey National. The market closed up by 1% at 4,502, while the FTSE 250 rose by 0.4% to close at 6,108.7.

The closing prices of media company shares on Wednesday were: