Johnston ‘Scores’ over rivals |
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Sun, 26 Jun 2005 23:35
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Guess who was more excited by the Emap's takeover last week of the 73 percent of Scottish Radio Holdings it did not already own? No prizes for guess it; it was Johnston Press, which acquired SRH's local newspaper portfolio for £155m cash.
This is a particularly satisfying victory for Johnston's chief executive Tim Bowdler, as there were scores of other bidders who had their eye on Score Press, the newspaper division of Scottish Radio Holdings.
But he is not gloating over his success, he wants to consolidate the holdings, "The Score Press deal gives us a new frontier. It means that all of a sudden, there are things that we would not have dreamed of doing that now become potentially interesting."
He added that he always knew Emap were not interested in the newspaper division of SRH, "I made it clear to him then that if there was an outright bid for SRH we would be interested in Score Press. Emap were never going to be holders of the papers and wanted the certainty of a buyer to work alongside them. That enabled us to agree a deal at a fair price and avoid getting involved in an auction," he said.
Tom Moloney, chief executive of Emap, said, "We had a lot of enquiries. We felt that they had different levels of seriousness; whether that was people interested in only part of it, or people with regulatory concerns, or people with funding issues. We asked Johnston to come up with their best price, without playing games. And we think we got the best price from the right buyer." He added that Emap believed that Johnston was the best buyer for Score Press.
Bowdler is excited about the fact that this acquisition gives him a foothold in the Irish market; Score Press owns the Kilkenny People, Leitrim Observer, Longford Leader and Tipperary Star as well as the Angus County Press, Stornoway Gazette and Galloway Gazette in Scotland.
"We like the portfolio of titles. There’s no overlap in Scotland, and it gives us entry to the Irish market — a marketplace which we think is exciting," he said adding that Johnston Press was always looking for "the right deal, giving us the right platform. We’d be disappointed if this didn’t lead to expansion in Ireland." Commenting on the state of the publishing industry, Bowdler said, "I do not subscribe to the view that the industry is in its final shape. Different strategies evolve and over the long term there will be more changes. We are very patient."
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