JOURNALISM: Newsquest closes in on Archant merger to create UK local news giant

By Bill Heaney

There has always been loadsa money in the newspaper business, although it has seldom been invested by managements in the right areas, such as newsgathering and bolstering democracy by keeping staff in local offices to cover essential matters such as councils and courts and even the local football club.

Newsquest, which owns the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter, the Clydebank Post  and the Helensburgh Advertiser, is on the brink of a merger with Archant that will establish it as one of Britain’s two biggest regional newspaper publishing groups. The 150 years old Lennox Herald is owned by Reach, which also owns The Daily Record and Sunday Mail.

Sky News reported this week that Newsquest, which is owned by the giant US publisher Gannett, could seal the purchase of East Anglia-based Archant within days.

A deal, which is understood to be valued at between £10 million and £15 million, will bring together the publishers of the North Wales Pioneer and the Eastern Daily Press.

It has been on the cards since Newsquest secured a period of exclusivity several weeks ago.

Business experts say that Archant, which was acquired by the turnaround investor Rcapital in 2020, owns some of Britain’s best-known local newspapers, including London’s Ham & High Express and the Eastern Daily Press.

For Newsquest, a merger with Archant would fill a major geographical gap in its portfolio and create an even larger rival to Reach which, with the Record and Lennox, is the listed publisher of The Daily Mirror, and JPI Media, the company which used to be known as Johnston Press, which founded The Falkirk Herald.

Archant was established in 1845, with the Colman family whose name went on to adorn the famous brand of English mustard one of the company’s founders.

Since Rcapital bought Archant, the company has been restructured, with much of its management team being replaced.

The deal saw Archant requiring support from the Pension Protection Fund, the industry lifeboat, which took a 10 per cent stake in the business.

Archant previously owned The New European, which was subsequently sold to a consortium which included the former BBC director-general Mark Thompson, now of the New York Times,  and the former Financial Times editor Lionel Barber.

Google partnership to develop new model

Many of the titles published by the likes of Archant and Newsquest have scrapped their print editions and become online-only newspapers in recent years.

The Audit Bureau of Circulation figure for The Lennox Herald has dropped dramatically over the past 20 years from 14,001 to

Lennox Herald

2,561

3,164

-19%

with the figures above being (from left) 2,561 for the current year against 3,164 for last year, which is a near 20 per cent drop in sales.

Archant has had some success at reinventing itself for a digital age, drawing millions of unique monthly visitors to its titles’ websites.

In 2019, it struck a landmark partnership with Google, the online search giant, to develop a new model for local digital news.

The American-owned company explored a bid for Archant when it was last on the market, according to reports at the time.

The Dumbarton Democrat is owned privately by Bill Heaney, a former award winning editor and columnist in the Lennox Herald, Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter and regional affairs editor of Scottish and Universal Newspapers group.

Heaney went on on to become a special adviser to the First Minister in the Scottish Government in Edinburgh; media adviser and PA to the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee at Westminster, and media adviser to the Vice President of the European Parliament.

He said: “The Democrat, which was founded by me five years ago, has been extremely successful in terms of the number of ‘hits’ it receives daily. I haven’t attempted to monetize it yet, but it is free to access for readers and free to advertise in for community organisations, businesses and charities. You will find it at democratonline.net“