News Letter under the hammer again

Regional newsaper publisher Johnston Press plc has confirmed that it has agreed terms to buy Local Press Limited for £65 million and The Leinster Leader Limited for 138.8 million euro (£94 million).

The Local Press group own The News Letter, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the English-speaking world, and the award-winning Derry Journal.

Formed following the acquisition of Trinity Mirror's Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland newspaper division by a 3i Group backed management team, Local Press publishes 12 main titles: eight in Northern Ireland, three in the Republic of Ireland and one title which is published in both.

The Group is comprised of three separate publishing companies, Derry Journal Limited and Century Press & Publishing Limited in Northern Ireland and The Donegal Democrat Limited in the Republic of Ireland, Local Press Group's total weekly circulation is in the region of 343,000.

For the period to 2 January 2005, Local Press Group, which began trading on 15 January 2004, reported total revenues of £18.5 million and operating profit of £4.9 million before exceptional items. This represented a 54% increase in revenue over the preceding year.

In a statement Johnston Press said it believed that the acquisitions represented "an attractive and complementary addition to its recently acquired portfolio of titles in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland."

Johnston Press is also confirmed that it is to acquire The Leinster Leader Limited for 138.6 million euro.

The Leinster Leader group of companies publish six weekly paid-for newspapers in the Republic of Ireland and recently commissioned a new print facility on a green field site in Limerick, which prints all Leinster Leader titles in-house.

Pre-tax earnings at the Leinster Leader to the end of August were up 31% to 8 million euros, on revenues up 15% to 21 million euros.

Both acquisitions remain subject to regulatory approval under legislation governing competition and the ownership of newspapers.

(SP)