Top two managers to leave Northcliffe Media

The two most senior executives at Northcliffe Media are to retire, it was announced to staff today, reports HoldtheFrontPage.

Managing director Michael Pelosi is bowing out after 22 years with the company, with his place to be taken by Steve Auckland, currently managing director at Metro.

Auckland is a former managing director of Yorkshire Post Newspapers and began his career in media as a classified sales executive with the company.

HTFP says Pelosi is to remain with the company until the end of the year, but in a different role working with Associated Newspapers group managing director Kevin Beatty on group-wide initiatives.

Also standing down is Pelosi's deputy, Alex Leys, who is retiring after a 28-year career with the company, which included editing the Lincolnshire Echo and Derby Evening Telegraph.

Linda Grant, currently group commercial development director, will replace Auckland at Metro.

Daily Mail and General Trust executives have been reported saying that the company is interested in any "worthwhile approaches" for Northcliffe. There has also been speculation that Trinity Mirror may be interested in taking control of Northcliffe in return for giving DMGT cash and shares.

Pics: Pelosi (left); Leys (right)

NUJ accuses Northcliffe of 'betraying loyal staff'

The NUJ has condemned Northcliffe Media's announcement that more than 50 editorial staff may be made redundant as part of a raft of changes to its six nationwide "superhubs" which handle the production of its regional newspapers.

The union says the creation of the "superhubs" last year resulted in "swathes of redundancies at that time, with some staff having to go through huge upheaval, moving their homes and families, and others having to undertake long commutes in order to keep their jobs."

It says the NUJ warned "that this move would be destructive with the loss of crucial local experience and the remote nature of operations from the communities they were seeking to serve. This has been a betrayal of loyal staff who were forced to make hugely difficult choices to keep their careers at the cost to their personal and families lives."

HoldtheFrontPage has reported: "Some of the page-planning and design subbing roles, originally moved to the hubs as part of the previous shake-up, are set to return to individual newspaper centres."

NUJ Northern and Midlands organiser, Chris Morley said: "Northcliffe management are guilty of gross incompetence in driving through a discredited hub system that anyone with any sense knew would fail, and now, just 18 months later, that is exactly what has happened.

"While we welcome a return of production back to its communities, this has come at yet another unacceptable cost - the loss of another key layer of experienced journalists and loading of more tasks on those left such as already overstretched reporters.

"This is hugely damaging – not just for staff who have been left bewildered by the company's contradictory actions, but also, crucially, for the cities served by the affected titles. In Nottingham, for example, the Nottingham Post now has only 11 reporters compared to 25, four years ago.

"The actions are driven by the revolt of editors against a system that they always knew was flawed but failed to stand up to at the time. Now it is yet another naked grab for further unsustainable profits on the back of mass redundancies.

"The key question is how do Northcliffe managers expect the same quality and volume of content to be maintained within the law on working hours? As usual the NUJ will be working hard to guide its members through this terrible mess and to defend them as much as possible against the damage being done to their own titles."

More than 50 jobs at risk as Northcliffe cuts subs

More than 50 job losses are at risk across Northcliffe Media's regional newspaper titles as the company plans to largely dispense with copy-subs, HoldtheFrontPage reports today.

HTFP says Northcliffe reporters will in future be writing stories directly onto pages to pre-determined lengths, as is already the case at regional newspaper publishers Johnston Press and Archant.

The proposals, which were announced to staff today, will mean a wholesale reorganisation of the six production hubs set up across the group last year. Page planning and design subbing roles, originally moved to the hubs as part of the previous shake-up, are set to return to individual newspaper centres, HTFP says.

No overall figure has been put on the number of jobs set to disappear across the group, but it is thought to exceed 50.

• HTFP also reports that two Northcliffe dailes, the Western Daily Press and Western Morning News, are set to share feature content in a bid to create a 'common spine' for the two titles. Their news desks have already merged.
  

DMGT: 'Not talking to anyone about Northcliffe'

DMGT financial director Peter Williams is quoted on MediaGuardian today ruling out a report that its regional newspaper arm, Northcliffe Media, could be sold to either Trinity Mirror or Johnston Press in a major consolidation of the regional press sector.
He said: "We said internally [following the report] that we are not talking to anyone and there is no expectation of talking. We have said that we can understand why consolidation is a good thing for regional media. But we don't wish to be the consolidator."
Northcliffe Media's total revenues for the quarter to 4 July this year were down by 4% to £66 million, a similar underlying percentage decline to that experienced in the previous quarter, the Daily Mail and General Trust reported in an interim management statement this week.
Advertising revenues were 4% below prior year levels. By major category, both retail and recruitment revenues were 6% lower, but in contrast, property revenues were 9% above last year. Digital revenues were 10% above prior year levels, driven by strong property and motors revenues. July has seen similar trends. Circulation revenues fell by 5% compared to last year.
DMGT reported revenue for the third quarter £508 million, down 2% on last year, but up 6% on an underlying basis.
Martin Morgan, chief executive, said: "Trading in the third quarter has continued to reflect the generally positive trends in our international B2B and UK consumer media businesses, although we remain wary about the medium term outlook, particularly in the UK."

Northcliffe: 25 journalists' jobs under threat

Around 25 editorial jobs at Northcliffe are under threat as a result of plans to create new centralised production hubs in Bristol and Swansea, HoldtheFrontPage reports today.
Staff in Cheltenham have been told that up to 15 posts are set to go with editorial production of the Citizen, the Gloucestershire Echo and related weekly titles set to move to Bristol.
A further ten posts are under threat at South West Wales Newspapers in Swansea, publishers of the South Wales Evening Post.
Central production hubs have already been announced by Northcliffe in Nottingham and Hull, which is still advertising for staff.

Who wants to go to Hull?

Northcliffe is advertising again on HoldtheFrontPage for subs to join its new production hub in Hull, (see ad above) with a closing date of June 19.
HoldtheFrontPage reported in March that Northcliffe was advertising for new production staff for the Hull hub because too few of its existing staff opted to make the move.
Plans for two central subbing sites in Hull and Nottingham were announced by Northcliffe in February. But HTFP said most of the subs based at the Lincolnshire titles - the Grimsby Telegraph, Scunthorpe Telegraph and Lincolnshre Echo have decided not to apply for new roles at the Hull centre. For Lincolnshire Echo subs the move would mean a 90-mile round-trip.
The Sunday Times has already speculated that the Hull Daily Mail might be on the move to Johnston Press, if a regional newspaper shake-up follows an anticipated relaxation of the media takeover rules. The Daily Mail is seen as a good fit with JP's Yorkshire titles.

More financial gloom at Northcliffe

UK operating profits at Northcliffe Media, have fallen by 91 per cent (£33 million) to £3.2 million, with advertising revenue down by 31 per cent to £103m, according to the Daily Mail and General Trust's half-year results for the six months to 29 March, announced today.
Recruitment advertising was down 47 per cent, property fell 54 per cent and motors were down by 23 per cent. Operating margins dropped from 18 per cent to 4 per cent.
UK digital revenues for the period were in line with the same period last year with recruitment revenues down 33 per cent, but other categories up 66 per cent.
Unique visitor levels to Northcliffe’s network of “this is” websites in March 2009 totalled 4.2 million and were 42 per cent higher than the corresponding period last year.
UK circulation revenues fell by 6 per cent to £35 million. In the July to December 2008 ABC period, weekly titles outperformed the industry whereas daily titles were slightly below the industry average.
Northcliffe staff have been cut by 500 (11 per cent). April trading has seen advertising revenues remaining at 36 per cent below last year.

New central subbing hub for Northcliffe

Northcliffe announced another new central subbing hub today and a number of free newspaper closures in Essex and Kent.
HoldtheFront Page reports Northcliffe is creating a centralised design and production hub in Chelmsford for all titles in its South East Weeklies division, stretching from Essex to the South Coast.
Some titles are set to be amalgamated and a number of free newspapers will be closed including Total Essex and Focus in West Kent. Free titles in Maidstone and Ashford are also under review.
The proposed centralised subbing hub in Chelmsford will be the fourth to be created by Northcliffe alongside those being proposed at Stoke, Nottingham and Hull. Redundancies are expected but no figure has been given.

Northcliffe Media suffers advertising chill in January with 40 per cent decline

Advertising revenues at Northcliffe Media, the regional arm of the Daily Mail & General Trust plunged by 40 per cent in January, according to a trading update, MediaGuardian and Press Gazette report today.
The figures show how tough the advertising market is for regional newspapers in the current economic downturn.
DMGT's national newspaper advertising revenues for January were down 23 per cent on the same month last year.
The company said Northcliffe Media, had two very slow weeks after the new year, resulting in advertising revenues for January being 40 per cent down on last year.
Peter Williams, DMGT's finance director, said the bad weather was a factor in the poor performance of the newspaper operation at the start of 2009.
"January has certainly been a tough month, it started incredibly slowly [and] just as activity looked to be turning more to normal we have been hit by atrocious weather," he told MediaGuardian.
Press Gazette quotes Williams on possible further redundancies as saying: "The only thing we can say is we are certainly in consultation in a number of places, mainly in our regional newspapers. We can't say any more about that.
"There are further reductions being contemplated in the New Year. I'm afraid a lot depends on the trading environment. We're inevitably looking at our cost base."