Trinity Mirror to sell Racing Post and 124 regional papers

Trinity Mirror is to sell off its sports titles, including the Racing Post, and 124 regional newspapers in the Midlands, London and the South East following a review of the business.

Protection of the Racing Post brand would be a condition of any sale.
The publisher ruled out a mooted separation of its regional and national business, judging that it would affect shareholder value.
The group will retain key regional titles in Scotland, Wales and the North of England alongside its flagship national papers and will pursue a multimedia strategy.
In a trading update for the six months to 2 July, issued today, the group's revenues fell by 2.2% to £566.6m. The titles up for sale had combined sales of £132 million.
Trinity Mirror expects the programme to deliver a further £20m in annual cost savings by 2008, with incremental revenue benefits expected within a year.
The sports division, which also includes Raceform and Weekender, was judged to have minimal overlap of readers, advertisers and editorial content with the rest of the group.
Investment bank Rothschild will advise on the disposals, which are expected to be completed during the second and third quarters of 2007.
Describing the decision as a "halfway house", James Healey, senior media analyst at Ernst & Young, doubted whether Trinity Mirror would find a buyer for the titles at the price it was expecting.
He said: "Either Trinity Mirror will have to accept firesale prices, or hope that someone out there can see valuable long-term potential in these assets. But given that it is the UK's largest newspaper publisher, if they can't build a business case for further investment, who can?"
Healey said that unless trading conditions pick up, Trinity Mirror could be forced to conduct a similar review in a year's time, which could result in a full de-merger.

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