Mecom Group

Mecom Group plc was a newspaper publishing company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

Mecom Group plc
TypePublic (LSE: MEC)
IndustryPublishing
Founded2005
Defunct2014 
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Key people
Stephen Davidson
(Executive chairman)
Revenue€492 million (2012)(six months to June 2012)
€43.1 million (Loss) (2012) (six months to June 2012)
Websitemecom.com

Initially, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index until 22 December 2008, when it became one of three media companies to fall out of the index.[1]

History

The company was founded in 2005 by David Montgomery, a former CEO of the Mirror Group and former editor of The Sun, Daily Mirror, News of the World and Today.[2] Mecom was first listed on the Alternative Investment Market in 2005.[3] In 2008, Mecom was admitted to the main list of the London Stock Exchange.[4]

In conjunction with the American media private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the company acquired in 2005 Berliner Verlag, publisher of the Berliner Zeitung and the Berliner Kurier.[5] In 2006, Mecom bought Germany's oldest newspaper, the Hamburger Morgenpost,[6] and the Dutch Media Groep Limburg.[7] The same year, Mecom acquired Orkla Media, a Norwegian Group which includes Edda Media, Berlingske Officin and Rzeczpospolita.[8] In 2007, tThe company bought a controlling stake in the Dutch publishing group Wegener.[9]

After the acquisitions, the Company owned around 300 titles and has had substantial operations in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Poland.[10] However, in 2009, Mecom sold all their newspapers in Germany to M. DuMont Schauberg and most of their newspapers in Norway. In 2010, half the revenue and three-quarters of the profit came from the Dutch Wegener group.[11]

In September 2012, following a period of poor trading conditions and continued challenging advertising markets, the group announced a strategic review to examine all options for maximising shareholder value. These options included the disposal of some or all of the Group's businesses.[12] In 2014 Belgian company De Persgroep acquired Mecom[13] and merged it into its own operations.

Divisions

Denmark

Mecom’s Danish operation was Berlingske Media,[14] engaged in newspaper publishing and printing.[15] Berlingske was one of the largest publishers of nationwide and local daily newspapers and free door-to-door newspapers in Denmark, with a 54% share of the regional distribution market and 33% of the total Danish newspaper segment.[16]

Netherlands

Mecom Group’s Dutch division included the Wegener and LMG. Wegener was the biggest publisher of local daily newspapers and free door-to-door newspapers in the Netherlands. LMG was the leading regional newspaper company in the Dutch region of Limburg.[17] In March 2012, Mecom reached an agreement to acquire 13.3% interest in Wegener resulting in Mecom holding 99.7% of the ordinary share capital of the company.[18]

Norway

Mecom owned Norwegian newspapers Romsdals Budstikke and Sunnmorsposten' until February 2009 when these were sold to Polaris Media.[19] In late 2011, Mecom held talks with Norwegian media group A-pressen to sell Edda Media,[20] and in June 2012 the sale was finalized with effective proceeds of NOK1,500 million resulting in a net debt reduction of approximately €195million.[21]

Poland

In October 2011 Mecom disposed of its 51 per cent interest in Presspublica. The Group's activities in Poland continued through Media Regionalne. Located in Warsaw, Media Regionalne held several newspapers, freesheets, websites and printing factories across Poland.[22] Previously known as Orkla Press Polska, the company owned 10 local newspapers with over 300,000 copies sold.[23]

References
  1. Chris Tryhorn. "Trinity Mirror, Johnston Press and Mecom crash out of FTSE 250". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  2. "Mecom Group PLC, MEC:LSE summary". Financial Times. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  3. Chris Tryhorn. "Brokers cut Mecom's pre-tax profit forecast". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  4. "UK's Mecom expects to list on main market mid-April". Reuters. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  5. Brook, Stephen (25 October 2005). "Montgomery concludes German publisher deal". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2008.
  6. Jason Deans. "Hamburger Morgenpost deal confirmed". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  7. Dan Milmo. "Montgomery buys Dutch double". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  8. Chris Tryhorn. "Montgomery buys into Norwegian media company". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  9. "Login". Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  10. "Mecom - Home". Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  11. "Cookies op gelderlander.nl - gelderlander.nl". www.gelderlander.nl.
  12. "MECOM GROUP PLC - INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30th JUNE 2012" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  13. Andy Sharman; Robert Cookson (30 June 2014). "Belgian publisher De Persgroep buys Mecom for £200m". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  14. "Berlingske Media - Company Profile and Analysis". G2Mi. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  15. "Berlingske Tidende A/s: Private Company Information - Businessweek". Businessweek. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  16. "Berlingske Media". Insideview. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  17. "Mecom - The Netherlands". mecom.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  18. "MECOM share price ( MEC,MEC.L,LSE:MEC,LON:MEC) - trade for £10: News | Interactive Investor". iii.co.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  19. Amanda Andrews (18 February 2009). "Mecom sells Norwegian newspaper assets". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  20. "Mecom in talks to sell Edda Media to Norway's A-pressen". Reuters. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  21. "Mecom Group PLC: Completion of sale of Edda Media AS". Investegate. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  22. "Mecom - Business Overview". mecom.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  23. "Media Regionalne (Mecom Group) - Clients - BCC - SAP implementations, SAP outsourcing in Poland and other countries". bcc.com.pl. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
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