According to reports, Trinity Mirror shareholders are selling borrowed stock in an attempt to buy it back at a lower rate when the future of Trinity Mirror becomes clearer tomorrow morning.
The group's board meeting today is the culmination of a four-month long strategic review, being conducted by investment bank NM Rothschild, about whether the group should split the national and regional divisions into two separate companies.
Trinity Mirror has been under mounting pressure to do something about its business to halt falling circulations and ad revenues -- the Daily Mirror dropped by 6% year-on-year to 1,549,573, and there were disappointing returns for The People.
Sly Bailey, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, and Sir Ian Gibson, chairman, have said that every option was being considered in respect of the group's future and that "nothing has been ruled in or out".
Senior management at Trinity Mirror have remained tight-lipped over what is likely to be decided in the next 24 hours, but analysts doubt there will be any radical changes to the company's structure.
Investment ABN Amro sees only a 30% chance of the business being split into regionals and nationals and has questioned whether this is the best option for creating shareholder value.
The market currently values the national division of Trinity Mirror, which includes the Mirror and The Daily Record, at around £700m.
However, the regional arm, which houses 240 titles including The Western Mail and Liverpool Echo, is worth nearly twice as much at £1.3bn.
A decision about the future of Trinity Mirror's national and regional divisions is expected tomorrow.
Shares in Trinity Mirror shares fell yesterday by 9p to 501.5p and fell slightly further in early trading today to 500.25p.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
