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October 15, 2015

Newsquest paid £15.2m for 29 local newspapers published by Romanes Media Group

By William Turvill

Newsquest paid £15.2m to acquire Romanes Media Group, the company’s accounts have shown.

The regional publishing giant announced it had bought Romanes, the publisher of 29 newspapers, in May.

Scotland-based Romanes published 19 paid-for weekly newspapers, nine free titles and one daily, the Greenock Telegraph.

They also include the Reading Chronicle, Dunbarton Reporter, Dunfermline Press, Alloa Advertiser, Carrick Herald, Bracknell News and Slough Observer.

According Newsquest’s annual report, in the year to September 2014 Romanes made an operating profit of £2.9m on turnover of £18m.

Since taking over Romanes, Newsquest has made a series of cuts across its newspapers.

In July, the publisher announced it was outsourcing subbing and production of Romanes’ Berkshire Media Group to Southampton, Newport and India with the loss of six jobs. A further seven jobs across management, news, sport and photography were also cut.

And in September, two editing positions, five photographers and two sub-editors were put at risk of redundancy in Berkshire.

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