The media company Ascential, formerly called Emap, is going to sell off nearly all its “heritage” magazine and website brands.
The titles up for sale are HSJ, MEED, Drapers, Nursing Times, Local Government Chronicle, Construction News, New Civil Engineer, Ground Engineering, H&V News, Retail Jeweller, Materials and Recycling World, Architects’ Journal and The Architectural Review.
Together they are said to have made turnover of £63m in 2015. Ascential will be retaining Retail Week.
Chief executive Duncan Painter said: “Ascential’s growth strategy continues to be to focus its resources and investment on its largest brands and those with the highest growth potential.”
Over the last year Guardian Media Group has largely cashed in its stake in Ascential reducing it from 33 to 8.7 per cent.
GMG and Apax paid £1.1bn for Ascential (then Emap) in 2008.
Emap changed its name to Top Right Group, but retained the name Emap for its B2B magazine titles. In 2015 the name Emap was “retired” and the B2B magazine titles and their websites were placed in part of the company called Plexus.
Top Right Group said it planned to phase out print production of all its titles over the following 18 months.
In December 2015 Top Right Group changed its name to Ascential.
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