Thomson Information Services Ltd has sold 14 business magazines including Broadcast, Drapers Record and CTN to Emap PLC for £20.7m. The deal, which was first suggested two weeks ago, also includes 3 directories and related exhibition interests (Newsline 3/2).
The acquisition increases Emap’s portfolio to 65 titles with an annual turnover of £65m. Last March Emap bought 26 titles from Maxwell Business Communications for £21.5m.
The 14 Thomson magazines were loss-making in the year to December 1992 although their turnover stood at £18.9m. Emap is confident that by reducing overheads it can return the titles to profit within a year. One of Emap’s first changes will be to merge its own Television Week into Thomson’s Broadcast with immediate effect. No other mergers are expected at the moment although some job losses look inevitable.
