The end of an 18-year newspaper publishing career: Richard Desmond
Trinity Mirror, publisher of the Daily and Sunday Mirror, has secured a deal to buy Richard Desmond’s Daily Express and Star news titles alongside OK! magazine.
Trinity will acquire Northern & Shell’s publishing assets for £126.7 million in a move it said would create a media business of scale to better serve its readers and advertisers.
“This deal is a really exciting moment in Trinity Mirror’s history, combining some of the most iconic titles in the UK media industry,” said Simon Fox, chief executive, Trinity Mirror.
“It is good for our readers, good for our customers and good for our shareholders. Northern and Shell’s titles have a large and loyal readership, a growing digital presence and a stable revenue mix and offer an excellent fit with Trinity Mirror.”
Trinity said there was strong financial rationale for the deal, which sees the left-leaning Mirror become stablemates with the right-wing Express.
“The board believes the acquisition is financially compelling and will deliver attractive returns to shareholders,” it said in a statement, adding that it would place less reliance on print advertising which is under pressure as readers migrate online.
Commenting on the deal, Richard Desmond, chairman of Northern & Shell, said: “The Express Newspapers and our celebrity magazine titles have been a key part of the Northern & Shell portfolio for many years, and I am immensely proud of building them into one of the largest newspaper and magazine groups in the UK.
“Today’s transformational transaction is a logical and natural next step in the evolution and consolidation of the media sector and will create a larger and stronger platform serving all stakeholders.
“In Trinity Mirror we have a great partner, who will be an excellent steward of the business going forward and I am delighted to be able to retain an ongoing interest in the combined group.”
Trinity said it would deliver “£20 million in annualised cost synergies by 2020”, with a significant amount of these savings achieved in 2019, while generating strong cash flows to provide financial flexibility for investment.
The Daily Mirror and the Daily Express were once two of the UK’s biggest papers, shifting more than eight million copies a day. Today, their combined sales are less than a million and continuing to fall, according to the latest ABC figures.
