Trinity Mirror PLC (LON:TNI), the publisher of the Daily Mirror newspaper has finally agreed a £126.7mln deal to buy rival titles the Daily Express and Daily Star in the biggest shake up of the UK newspaper industry in years.
The deal brings together tabloids from the opposite ends of the political spectrum, plus celebrity magazines to create a larger company better able to combat declining sales and the move of readers and advertisers online.
READ: Trinity Mirror expects quarterly revenue drop as print advertising continues to decline
In a statement on Friday, Trinity Mirror said it would pay vendor Northern & Shell Media Group Limited an initial cash consideration of £47.7mln, a deferred cash consideration of £59mln payable between 2020 to 2023 and the balance of £20mln via the issue of shares.
The group will also make a one-off cash payment of £41.2mln to the Northern & Shell Pension Schemes and a recovery plan through to 2027 has been agreed with total payments of £29.2mln.
The firm said its board “believes the acquisition is financially compelling and will deliver attractive returns to shareholders”.
Trading update too
Trinity Mirror also issued an update on current trading, in which it said it anticipates adjusted results for 2017 to be marginally ahead of consensus forecasts.
The newspaper publisher said group revenue for 2017 on a like-for-like basis is expected to fall by 9% year-on-year, broadly in line with the 9% decline in the first half.
It added that publishing revenue is expected to fall by 9% with an improvement in the rate of decline in the second half to 8% compared to a decline of 10% in the first half.
Meanwhile, the group said, publishing digital revenue growth of 7% reflected improved growth of 8% in the second half compared to 6% growth in the first half.
Trinity Mirror concluded that, at this early stage in the year, performance for 2018 is expected to be in line with market expectations.
In afternoon trading, Trinity Mirror shares were off their earlier highs but still up 1.7% at 71p.
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