Northcliffe Media Ltd. (formerly Northcliffe Newspapers Group) was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK and Central and Eastern Europe, owned by
Daily Mail and General Trust
Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media company, the owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office is ...
(DMGT). In 2012, the company was sold by DMGT to a newly formed company,
Local World
Local World Holdings Ltd. was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK that published around 100 print titles and more than 70 websites. It was formed in 2012 by David Montgomery, a former chief executive of Trinity Mirror, to buy the Dai ...
, which also bought Iliffe News and Media from the
Yattendon Group
Yattendon Group plc (formerly Yattendon Investment Trust) is a British-based private company owned by the Iliffe family. It has interests in Vancouver, Seattle, agriculture, marinas and local newspaper printing and publishing.
Property
Yattendo ...
. In October 2015,
Trinity Mirror bought Local World.
It operated from over 30 publishing centres, and also has 18 daily titles. The main publishing centres for the newspapers were
South West Wales Publications
South West Wales Publications (SWWP), part of the Northcliffe Media, is a regional newspaper publisher based in Swansea. The company produces eight local and regional paid-for and free titles including the:
*''South Wales Evening Post'',
*''Carm ...
in
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
, Bristol Print Centre in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, Derby Print Centre in
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
, Rockwell Universal in
Grimsby
Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...
, Leicester Print Centre in
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
, Plymouth Print Centre in
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
and Stoke Print Centre in
Stoke on Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
. All publishing centres except Swansea and Grimsby have since closed.
Northcliffe runs a print and publishing service to businesses and organisations across the UK and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. It also operates a retail division with 67 outlets and has Hungarian newspaper interests.
It also claimed to be one of the top two publishers, in terms of circulation, in
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
after two-and-a-half years in the country, and to have invested £22 million in the
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
an market between 2004 and 2007.
They own ''Avizo'', the leading daily classified newspaper in Slovakia, City Express was acquired, including two fortnightly titles, ''Auto Burza'', a motors classified product and ''Burza Nehnutel’nosti'', a property magazine.
History
In November 2005, the DMGT announced that it wanted to sell Northcliffe Newspapers, at the time worth over £1.5bn.
It came after figures according to Ofcom announced that Northcliffe only has 16% of the regional market, compared to Trinity's 20%, Newsquest's 18% and 15% for Johnston. This was cancelled after they could not find an offer for the group as a whole. On 6 July 2007, the company bought 26 regional titles from
Trinity Mirror plc for the sum of £64.15 million. The group said it had bought three of Trinity Mirror's local divisions, East Surrey and Sussex Newspapers, Kent Regional Newspapers and Blackmore Vale Publishing, included the ''
Croydon Advertiser
''The Croydon Advertiser'' (with locally branded editions) is a paid-for weekly newspaper with five editions covering the London Boroughs of Croydon, Sutton and two neighbouring towns and with a free up-to-the-minute maintained web presence.
Ci ...
'', ''
Blackmore Vale
The Blackmore Vale (; less commonly spelt ''Blackmoor'') is a vale, or wide valley, in north Dorset, and to a lesser extent south Somerset and southwest Wiltshire in southern England.
Geography
The vale is part of the Stour valley, part of t ...
'' magazine, ''
Medway News
The ''Medway News'' was a weekly newspaper covering the Medway Towns in Kent, England. Established in 1855 as the ''Military Chronicle'' and ''Naval Spectator'', it relaunched as the ''Chatham News and Rochester, Strood, Brompton & Gillingham Adv ...
'' and the ''
Kingston Informer
Local World Holdings Ltd. was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK that published around 100 print titles and more than 70 websites. It was formed in 2012 by David Montgomery, a former chief executive of Trinity Mirror, to buy the Dai ...
''.
The sale is expected to boost Northcliffe's circulation by 872,000 copies per week.
The company's name was changed to Northcliffe Media from Northcliffe Newspaper Group in 2007.
In July 2011, it was announced that Northcliffe Media intended to sell nine of its titles to the
KM Group
KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM ...
. The newspapers involved include the ''
Dover Express'', ''
East Kent Gazette'', ''
Folkestone Herald'', ''
Herne Bay and Whitstable Times'', ''
Isle of Thanet Gazette
An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms.
Isle may refer to:
Geography
* I ...
'', ''
Medway News
The ''Medway News'' was a weekly newspaper covering the Medway Towns in Kent, England. Established in 1855 as the ''Military Chronicle'' and ''Naval Spectator'', it relaunched as the ''Chatham News and Rochester, Strood, Brompton & Gillingham Adv ...
'' and ''
Thanet Times''. km Group has referred the matter of the acquisition of the titles to the
Office of Fair Trading
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...
.
In November 2012 DMGT sold Northcliffe Media to Local World.
Daily Mail sells regional newspapers to Local World
BBC News, 21 November 2012 In October 2015, Trinity Mirror announced that it was acquiring the whole of Local News.
A&N International Media
A&N International Media, formerly Northcliffe International, was the Central and Eastern European multimedia enterprise arm of Northcliffe Media. It had newspapers throughout Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, with their biggest market in Hungary. They also had website interests in Croatia, owning four shopping, home and car websites as well as in Slovakia and Hungary.
The international arm began in 1989, when the Northcliffe Newspaper Group acquired ''Kisalföld
The Little Hungarian Plain or Little Alföld ( Hungarian: ''Kisalföld'', Slovak: ''Malá dunajská kotlina'', German: ''Kleine Ungarische Tiefebene'') is a plain (tectonic basin) of approximately 8,000 km² in northwestern Hungary, south ...
'', the largest regional newspaper in Hungary, serving the north-western county of Győr
Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...
-Sopron
Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.
History
Ancient times-13th century
When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...
. The group later acquired '' Délmagyarország'', the largest daily title in the south-east of the country, and the English-language weekly newspaper, ''The Budapest Sun
''The Budapest Sun'' was a general interest, English language newspaper based in Budapest, Hungary. The paper claimed to have the largest circulation of a foreign language newspaper in the country.
History and profile
''The Budapest Sun'' was est ...
''. Northcliffe also invested significantly in new headquarters and printing plants in both Győr
Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...
and Szeged
Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
.
The total Eastern European business had revenues of £35 million per year and annualised profits of around £6 million. The arm had 801 overseas workers in 2006, but after the arrival in the Croatian market in March 2007, this exceeded 1,000. The chairman of the European arm was Vivian Baring and the director was István Szammer.
Hungary
In Hungary ''Kisalföld
The Little Hungarian Plain or Little Alföld ( Hungarian: ''Kisalföld'', Slovak: ''Malá dunajská kotlina'', German: ''Kleine Ungarische Tiefebene'') is a plain (tectonic basin) of approximately 8,000 km² in northwestern Hungary, south ...
'', a morning newspaper based in Győr, has the highest circulation of any regional title in the country, selling an average 78,000 copies Monday to Saturday. It also publishes a daily edition for the town of Sopron
Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.
History
Ancient times-13th century
When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...
. Northcliffe International also publishes '' Délmagyarország'', Hungary's oldest regional daily newspaper and the largest selling title in the south-eastern region. In addition it publishes '' Délvilág'' for Csongrád
Csongrád ( ro, Ciongrad; tr, Conğrad sr, Чонград, Čongrad, archaically also ''Црноград/Crnograd'') is a town in Csongrád County in southern Hungary.
History
At the time of the Hungarian Conquest (the end of 9th century) the ...
county. Other publications include classified titles ''Magyar Bazár'' and ''Irányár''. Websites include Használtautó, a car finder website (similar to that of DMGT's Loot Newspaper and website in Britain), Ingatlanbazár, a house finder website (similar to that of DMGT's Primelocation website in the UK) and Workania, a work finder website (yet again similar to Jobsite in the UK owned by DMGT).
Other newspapers owned by the group include the paid-for:
*''Déli Apró''
*''Délmagyarország''
*''Hírpressz''
*''Irányár Bács''
*''Irányár Békés''
*''Irányár Szolnok''
*''Magyar Bazár Álmos''
*''Magyar Bazár Huba''
*''Magyar Bazár Koppány''
*''Magyar Bazár Tas''
*''Vasárnapi Kisalföld''
And the free:
*''Budapesti Cégregiszter''
*''Csongrád Megyei Cégregiszter''
*''Csongrádi-Szentesi Hirdeto"''
*''Gyo"ri Cégregiszter''
*''Gyo"rpress''
*''Lajtapress''
*''Makói Hirdeto"''
*''Presztizs Magazin''
*''Rábaközpress''
*''Soproni Szuperinfo''
*''Sopronpress''
*''Szolnoki Hirdeto"''
*''Vas Megyei Cégregiszter''
*''Vásárhelyi Hirdeto"''
Slovakia and Bulgaria
In 2004 Northcliffe International acquired '' Avizo'', Slovakia's biggest daily advertising magazine which includes nearly 8,000 advertisements daily. Other acquisitions include ''City Express
City Express (french: Cité Express), also known as Air Atonabee Ltd., was an airline based in Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1991, which operated passenger services in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.
History
City Express wa ...
'', a free weekly paper distributing 160,000 copies in and around Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
, the country's leading recruitment website Profesia.sk, the leading motors website Autovia.sk, and the quality daily newspaper Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...
, the oldest national title in Slovakia with a circulation of 78,000. Northcliffe's Slovakian business, in which it invested a total of £23 million, employed over 300 people and generates revenues of £12 million.
Other newspapers owned by the Slovakian arm of the group included:
*''Burza Nehnutel'nosti
Local World Holdings Ltd. was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK that published around 100 print titles and more than 70 websites. It was formed in 2012 by David Montgomery, a former chief executive of Trinity Mirror, to buy the Dai ...
''
*'' Profesia''
In Bulgaria, Northcliffe International owned the daily Bulgarian newspaper '' Pozvanete'', established in 1992. Pozvanete is the leading paid-for classified advertising newspaper in the region with copies sold in Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
, Varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria
**Varna Province
**Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
**Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
*Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
*Varniai, a city in Lithuania
* Varna (Šaba ...
and Plovdiv
Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...
. The title currently employs more than 200 people.
Croatia and Romania
Northcliffe International entered the Croatian market in March 2007 with the purchase of 60 per cent of the country's leading recruitment website Mojposao.hr. The site controls 85 per cent of the country's online jobs market. Northcliffe invested almost £12 million on digital assets in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. Other websites included; 4kotaca.net, centarnekretnina.net and kupiprodaj.net
In Romania, Northcliffe International's activities extended further with the acquisition of the classified title ''Anunţ A-Z'' in Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
. ''Anunţ A-Z'' was established in 1990 as a bi-weekly classified advertising periodical and sold 12,000 copies per issue mainly in Bucharest. The title also has a dedicated website.
Titles
Northcliffe Media claimed that over 3,272,302 people had visited all of its local sites for all the newspapers, with the most hit site being the Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
. Northcliffe's core business was the production, printing and distribution of Regional Newspapers alongside its online 'thisis' network.
Subsidiaries
Some former subsidiaries
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...
of the group included Northcliffe Retail and a 25% shareholding in the website Fish4. Associated Northcliffe Digital (AND) was the online arm of the Northcliffe Media Ltd, one of the largest and most successful regional newspaper publishers in the UK. Its daily titles had a combined sale of more than one million copies per day and its paid-for weeklies sold in excess of 490,000 copies. Each week the Group also distributed 2.6 million copies of its free newspapers.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Daily Mail and General Trust
Newspaper companies of the United Kingdom