Irish stations sold in €587m deal

SCOTTISH Radio Holdings (SRH) has been taken over in a £391 million (€587m) deal that will see its new owners retain the group’s Irish radio stations, but offload its five local newspapers here to a British regional publisher.

British media group Emap, whose interests include men’s publication FHM and women’s magazines such as Bliss and More, said yesterday that Today FM, Ireland’s only privately-owned national radio station, and Dublin music station FM104 would stay within the enlarged SRH/Emap stable.

But there will be no room in the group for SRH’s local newspaper business, Score Press, which will be sold to the Edinburgh-headquartered Johnston Press group for £155 million (€233 million) in cash.

Score Press publishes 45 weekly newspapers, including the Kilkenny People, Leitrim Observer, Longford Leader, Tipperary Star and Clonmel-based Nationalist & Munster Advertiser. Its publishes a further 24 newspapers in the North through its Morton Press subsidiary and 16 in Scotland.

Its new owner, Johnston Press, is the fourth-biggest regional publisher in Britain and is quoted in London with a market value of £1.4 billion (€2.10bn).

Yesterday’s deal marks its first venture outside its home markets in Scotland and England.

The company said it would look to add to its Irish portfolio if suitable local papers came on the market here over time, but added that it would be “selective” about the titles it wanted.

“In addition to strengthening Johnston Press’s focused regional newspaper franchise in the consolidating UK market, the transaction will establish a strong presence for Johnston Press in well-established and profitable markets in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland,” a statement said. “The acquisition will also provide opportunities for operational and purchasing synergies.”

The Irish regional newspaper market has been viewed as highly attractive to British publishers.

SRH was just one of a number of media groups that paid hefty premiums to establish a presence here.

The healthy state of the Irish market was underlined last week by news that the Leinster Leader group of newspapers was up for sale and expected to command a price tag of more than €100 million.

Emap said it was pleased with the structure of the deal, which will give it control of SRH’s radio assets without taking over its local newspaper arm. “Radio is a good business with strong medium term growth prospects,” said Emap chief executive Tom Moloney. “This transaction enables us to create the highest quality independent local radio business, reaching all of the UK’s major conurbations and delivering a strong position in the Republic of Ireland.”