Trinity Mirror offloads regional titles

Newspaper group Trinity Mirror has sold its southern regional titles to Northcliffe Media for £64.15m. The sale includes 25 titles in the Kent Regional Newspapers, East Surrey and Sussex Newspapers and Blackmore Vale Publishing groups.

Trinity Mirror, which publishes the Daily Mirror, announced last year that it was selling a number of its regional newspaper groups in London, the south-east, the Midlands and its sports division, which includes the Racing Post. Analysts estimated the racing title was worth up to £220m, and the southern and Midlands titles up £200m. However, falling regional advertising revenues have brought down the amount expected to be raised from the sales.

Norfolk-based regional newspaper group Archant was also believed to have been interested in bidding for Trinity’s southern division. The company says it expects to have sold its remaining companies in the third quarter.

Northcliffe Media is the local media division of Daily Mail and General Trust.