UNM To Plough £370m Into Internet Investments

United News & Media (UNM) this morning becomes the third UK media group this week to announce plans for major internet investments, dedicating £370 million to online businesses over the next two years. United’s web strategy follows similar moves by Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier (see Jobs To Go At Reed Elsevier As Part Of Cost Cutting) and Scottish Media Group (see Scottish Media To Spend £10m On Web Plans), affirming the increasing presence and importance of the internet to traditional media companies.

UNM is planning to push £270 million into UK based new media ventures, with a further £100 million earmarked for similar projects in the US. As part of the investment, the company has created a New Media Division under which all of UNM’s European online interests will be run.

United already produces two of the UK’s top ten websites and is looking to build on this presence “to create market-leading businesses in a number of carefully targeted business segments. All of these markets have been selected for their substantial e-commerce opportunities, as well as advertising potential,” United said in a statement this morning.

Unveiling its 1999 financial results today, United also pointed to a strong performance from Channel 5, in which the group now holds a 35% stake (see Channel 5 Valued At £1bn By Sale Of Warburg Stake), with advertising revenues growing by 29% year on year at the station. United also owns the HTV, Meridian and Anglia ITV franchises and says that they maintained their share of advertising revenues in a market that grew 6% in 1999.

United is also awaiting a report on 16 May from the Competition Commission into its proposed £7.8 billion merger with Carlton Communications (see Carlton-United Merger Deal Referred To Competition Commission). The company says that it is still firmly committed to the deal, despite speculation that the recently-increased stake in Channel 5 could scupper the merger on competition grounds.

Pre-tax profits at United fell 3.7% to £279.4 million for 1999; turnover grew 15.6% to £2.2 billion.

United News & Media: 020 7921 5000