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ABCs: London Lite waves goodbye

By Oliver Luft

The afternoon freesheet London Lite publishes its last edition today after recording a final full month average weekday distribution of just over 400,000 in October.

Owners Daily Mail & General Trust confirmed late last week that, after a period of review, it was about to close the London Lite. Doing so marked the final chapter of the three London freesheet war.

News International closed its freesheet, thelondonpaper, in September citing difficult market conditions.

In January, DMGT sold three quarters of the loss-making London Evening to the Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev who then converted it from a paid-for to a free title last month.

In its last full month of publication, London Lite recorded a 0.13 per cent year-on-year fall in distribution to 400,057 copies, according to figures supplied today by the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

DMGT’s free weekday morning title, Metro, distributed an average of 1,334,451 copies each weekday across the UK in October, a fall of 1.86 per cent year on year.

Free London daily business newspaper, City AM, distributed 102,499 copies daily on average in October.

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City AM released financial information this week that showed, unlike the consumer papers it battled against; it was weathering the economic downturn relatively well.

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