For most Britons, the Blair-Brown boom reached a peak in early 2008. Yet as always, the news business was ahead of the game. For most publishers, revenues hit an all-time high during 2004-2005.
One deal, in particular, signalled that we had reached the peak.
In December 2005, Johnston Press bought Scotsman Publications from the Barclay brothers for £160m. This astonishing sum represented 2.5 times the revenue generated by The Scotsman, Scotland On Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News during the previous year.
Half a decade later, what’s to be said about Guardian Media Group’s decision to sell its 32 local newspapers to Trinity Mirror?
Related
If GMG had sold out to Johnston Press in 2005, it might have hoped for a price tag of over £300m (on the basis that its regionals generated revenues of £128m the previous year).
Today, however, GMG is selling its regionals for £7.4m in cash.
Some will criticise GMG for not persisting with its stricken cash cow. Others will allege an excess of sentimental attachment to the Manchester Evening News.
Content from our partners
But let’s not get too aggressive, or too dewy-eyed. It’s worth remembering that GMG’s regionals delivered nearly £90m in operating profits between 2005 and 2008. If we’re going to compare today’s thin-looking deal with what might have been possible in 2005, we’ll need to make allowances for that £90m.
In addition, as part of today’s deal, GMG finds itself relieved of the contractual need to pay £37.4m to Trinity Mirror to print the Manchester Evening News.
This represents a real-world benefit for GMG, which continues to eat through its cash reserves in a manner that calls to mind Morgan Spurlock consuming Quarter Pounders in Super Size Me.
So add it all up: in total, GMG has made a return during the past five years of something like one times its regional newspapers’ current annual revenues (and more if you make allowances for not having to pay MEN’s print bill in the future).
This isn’t the kind of coup that will see the board of GMG elected by to the deal-makers’ hall of fame alongside David and Frederick Barclay. But it isn’t that bad, either.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
