Johnston Press poaches Indo executive

JOHNSTON Press has poached a senior executive from Independent Newspapers to run its Irish titles.

Independent director of marketing Barry Brennan will join Johnston Press in January as chief executive of Johnston’s Irish newspapers.

Johnston is the largest regional newspaper publisher across Ireland, having bought the Leinster Leader Group for almost €140 million in September.

The takeover has finally been cleared by the Competition Authority but awaits the signature of Enterprise, Trade and Employment minister Micheál Martin.

Johnston also purchased Local Press Group, which runs several titles in the North including the Belfast NewsLetter.

Mr Brennan, who is 47, will run more than 30 newspapers in the Republic and the North.

The loss of Mr Brennan will be a blow to the Independent group given his knowledge of the company’s titles. The Belfast NewsLetter is in direct competition with Independent’s Belfast Telegraph.

Johnston Press has spent over €230m buying newspapers in Ireland.

Edinburgh-based Johnston Press is one of the largest regional newspaper publishers in Britain.