Trinity Mirror confident Express and Star deal raises no issues

Trinity Mirror said it was confident its purchase of the Express and Star newspapers did not harm competition or media plurality after the government ordered regulators to examine the deal.

On 1 May the digital and culture secretary, Matt Hancock, directed Ofcom, the communications regulator, and the Competition and Markets Authority to examine whether Trinity Mirror’s £126m purchase of the papers was in the public interest. He said he had concerns about freedom of expression and editorial decisions as well as media plurality.

Hancock asked the regulators to complete their work by 31 May. The CMA was already looking into competition aspects of the purchase, which brings the Conservative supporting papers under the same roof as the Daily Mirror and other titles that back Labour.

In an update on trading, Trinity Mirror said: “The board remains confident that the acquisition does not present any competition or media plurality issues.”

Trinity Mirror said trading in 2018 to the end of April was in line with market expectations for annual pre-tax profit between £131.7m and £133.9m.

Group revenue, excluding acquisitions and disposals, fell 9% in the first four months as slightly better print advertising trends were offset by the bad weather in March, which hit circulation revenue.

Express and Star revenue fell by an estimated 5% with improvement in the period since Trinity Mirror bought the papers on 28 February. Trinity Mirror said it had limited access to financial information about the papers while the CMA conducts its review.

Simon Cox, Trinity Mirror's chief executive, said: “Our tight management of the business, the completion of the acquisition of the UK publishing assets of Express and Star and appropriate investment in building our digital business make me confident that 2018 will be another year of progress."