Page 484 - The Case Lab Book

Sale of the i

On the 12 February 2016 it was announced

that The Independent and the Independent on
Sunday newspapers were to close.

The Independent, a 30-year-old paper, would

become a digital-only product.

The cut-price national daily newspaper - the i -

part of the group that published The

Independent and owned by the Lebedevs, was
a national print product, with little digital

revenue and was sold to JP for £24 million. This was an

interesting development in that JP was in weak financial shape,

with over £200m of debt prior to the purchase. However, if the
i could be integrated, it could strengthen JPR’s national sell to

advertisers as the Independent's current paid circulation was

just over 40,000 while its Sunday sister title sold just under

43,000 copies but by contrast the i, had a circulation of
275,000 and reported profits of £5.2 million last year. JP on the

other hand was the UK's fourth largest print publisher with

more than 250 titles and in excess of 600,000 paid copies a

day.

Johnston Press management are experts at taking costs out of

a business, from 2009 to 2014, JP total revenues (including the
impact of closures and disposals) fell by around £158m but

total operating costs fell by about £144m meaning that over

90% of the revenue reduction was offset by a reduction in

costs.