Northcliffe Newspapers Group Limited and Aberdeen Journals Limited: A report on the proposed transfer to Northcliffe Newspapers Group Limited of the newspapers of Aberdeen Journals Limited

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Summary

On 21 November 1995 the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry asked us to investigate and report on whether the proposed transfer to Northcliffe Newspapers Group Limited (Northclif-fe) of the titles published by Aberdeen Journals Limited (AJL) listed in Appendix 1.1 may be expected to operate against the public interest.

AJL is part of The Thomson Corporation (Thomson), a Canadian company with UK interests in publishing, information and leisure travel. It publishes two daily, three weekly and seven monthly or bi-monthly titles from its headquarters in Mastrick, Aberdeen. AJL's flagship newspaper, the daily morning Press and Journal, circulates in ten different editions throughout the north of Scotland and its readership is representative of a broad cross-section of political opinion and social grouping. Its circulation increased by some 3.7 per cent over the period 1990 to 1995. AJL's evening daily newspaper, the Evening Express, circulates largely in and around Aberdeen and Inverness.

Around the beginning of 1995 Thomson made a strategic decision to withdraw from the UK local and regional newspaper market and accordingly sought buyers for its eight local and regional newspaper publishing businesses. All but AJL have now been sold. In November 1995 Thomson agreed to sell AJL to Northcl-iffe, a subsidiary of Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT) and an estab-lished publisher of local and regional newspapers in several parts of England and Wales but not in Scotland.

We concluded that there would be no risk to the accurate presentation of news or free expression of opinion if AJL's titles were transferred to Northcliffe. Northcliffe's policy is to devolve editorial autonomy to each of its titles. On the basis of the evidence we received, Northcliffe's reputation in the industry and assurances from Northcliffe itself, we are satisfied that Northcliffe will continue this policy if it acquires AJL's titles. It is in Northcliffe's interests to do so, since the titles to be transferred are strongly established in the region and owe their success to their independent approach and detailed local coverage. We received no adverse comment or expressions of concern about the proposed transfer from readers of AJL's titles.

AJL's titles face strong competition in the north of Scotland and we are satisfied that Northcliffe will find it commer-cially advantage-ous to maintain and develop those features, in particular the editionized structure of the Press and Journal, which have been the key to their past success.

We considered the increased concentration which would result from the transfer of AJL's titles to Northcliffe. So far as concentra-tion at the UK level is concerned, Northcliffe's current 9.7 per cent share of the local and regional newspaper market would increase to 11.3 per cent if Northcliffe acquired AJL's titles. We are satisfied that this level of concentration is not a cause for concern in the present case.

DMGT's share of the total market for newspapers would increase both in Scotland as a whole and in AJL's marketing area (the north of Scotland) if it acquired AJL's titles since its subsidiary Associated Newspapers Limited (Associated Newspapers) already owns the Scottish Daily Mail, which circulates throughout Scotland. The Scottish Daily Mail is not, however, a close substitute for the Press and Jour-nal; the two newspapers are aimed at different markets. We are satisfied that this increase in concentration will have no adverse effects.

We do not expect the employment and efficiency aspects of the transfer to have any adverse effects on the public interest.

We conclude therefore that the proposed transfer may be expected not to operate against the public interest.

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