Local World Ltd (large geo-site network) sold for £220 million

Edwin · Oct 28, 2015

Trinity Mirror bought Local World Ltd for £220 million (well, they bought the rest of the company in a transaction valuing the whole at £220 million)

Local World Ltd state that they operate 83 websites with 21 million monthly uniques and 140 million pageviews. They also have a large number of local newspapers, but I can't imagine those are particularly profitable these days.

Anyway, thought this news was interesting for anyone operating in the local space.

http://www.localworld.co.uk/blog/20...ership-of-local-world-in-transformative-deal/

davedevelopment · Oct 28, 2015

Interesting! Looks like they still make a fair whack from the print side of things, or at least they did in 2014.

I think it's a bit tenuous to call them a geo-site network, they're a newspaper company with online versions to me.

Edwin · Oct 28, 2015

I agree to an extent. However when you read the full press release it's clear that Trinity Mirror wanted to boost the digital side of their operation...
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=88476&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=2103225&highlight=

BeachLife · Oct 28, 2015

End 2013 accounts showed £20m digital revenue out of £230m total revenue. End 2014 showed £24m out of £220m. So not really a geo site network. Pre tax adjusted profits of £39m in 2014.

The accounts doesn't break down how many of the 2,700 staff are on the digital side, if indeed they can be broken down.

140m pageviews per month, so roughly 1,680m pageviews per year. With digital revenues quoted at £25m that makes roughly £15 per 1,000 pageviews.

martin-s · Oct 29, 2015

Local World's print portfolio:

· Comprises 83 print publications: 16 daily print titles, 2 Metro franchises, 36 paid weekly titles and 29 free weekly titles;

· Has its main footprint in the South West and Wales, London and the South East, and the Midlands and the North; and

· Includes 7 of the top 20 regional paid daily titles (by circulation) in England and Wales, which alongside Trinity Mirror's regional titles, would result in the Enlarged Group having 13 of the top 20.

pugdomains · Oct 29, 2015

Looks like a long term plan to me.... Local World Ltd was only founded in 2012, by the former Mirror Trinity chief executive.

When founded it bought its publications from Daily Mail and another publisher.

So possibility that the Daily Mail wouldn't be willing to sell the publications to the Trinity Mirror group... and that selling it on to Mirror Trinity was the exit plan all along?

Just speculating of course, but I can remember when Tottenham Hotspur wanted Zeki Fryers from Man Utd and they couldn't agree compensation (under 24 player out of contract requires tribunal to sign for another English club).

So instead he signed for some second rate Belgian team on a free transfer for a few months (no compensation required to move overseas), who then sold him to Spurs at the earliest opportunity. Making Sir Alex furious...