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Daily Mail and General Trust
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Daily Mail and General Trust plc is one of the Europe's largest media companies and has interests in national and regional newspapers, television and radio. The company has extensive activities based outside the UK, through Northcliffe Media, DMG Radio Australia, DMG World Media, DMG Information. Its biggest markets apart from the UK are in the United States, eastern Europe, and Australia. In June 2006 the company was relegated from the FTSE 100 index into the mid-cap FTSE 250 Index, although it was promoted back into the FTSE 100 in March 2007.
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Encyclopedia
Daily Mail and General Trust plc is one of the Europe's largest media companies and has interests in national and regional newspapers, television and radio. The company has extensive activities based outside the UK, through Northcliffe Media, DMG Radio Australia, DMG World Media, DMG Information. Its biggest markets apart from the UK are in the United States, eastern Europe, and Australia. In June 2006 the company was relegated from the FTSE 100 index into the mid-cap FTSE 250 Index, although it was promoted back into the FTSE 100 in March 2007. DMGT was again demoted to the FTSE 250 in December 2007.
History
The group can trace its origins back to launch of the mid market national newspaper the Daily Mail in 1896, but it was officially incorporated in 1922 to control Associated Newspapers Holdings expanding interests. Daily Mail and General Trust plc was fully incorporated in 1922 and its shares were first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1932. In 1922 Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere acquired control of the Daily Mail newspaper and to this date, Rothermere's descendants continue to control the Daily Mail and General Trust. Rothermere and the Mail were editorially sympathetic to Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists and he wrote an article, "Hurrah for the Blackshirts", in January 1934, praising Mosley for his "sound, commonsense, Conservative doctrine". Rothermere visited and corresponded with Hitler. On 1 October 1938, Rothermere sent Hitler a telegram in support of Germany's invasion of the Sudetenland, and expressing the hope that 'Adolf the Great' would become a popular figure in Britain. Secret British government papers released in 2005 show that Rothermere wrote to Adolf Hitler congratulating him for the annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, and encouraged him to march into Romania. Rothermere also purchased estates in Hungary in case Britain should fall to a Soviet invasion. There is a memorial to Rothermere in Budapest. To this date Rothermere's descendants continue to control the Daily Mail and General Trust.
As one of the longest-established media companies in the UK, DMGT has long invested in its business in order to become one of the most successful information providers in the country.
After almost 100 years in Fleet Street, the company left its original premises of New Carmelite House in Fleet Street in 1988 to move to Northcliffe House in Kensington. 10,000 tons of rubble were removed to create the vast high atrium, with a domed roof containing 64 tons of glass. The break-up of Fleet Street was a revolution that had to happen in the tradition-bound world of newspaper printing where powerful unions resisted efforts by the Fleet Street publishers to modernise and economise. At the same time as the newspapers moved to Kensington, the printing operation for Southern England moved four miles (6 km) away to Surrey Quays. This state-of-the-art printing centre was opened on an site at Rotherhithe in the London Docklands in 1989.
Instant communications between editorial, advertising and pre-press departments with Harmsworth Quays Printing are crucial. All pages are made up on computer screens and the completed pages are flashed to Surrey Quays without even a proof being necessary in Northcliffe House. On arrival they are converted into negative form and are used to make the plates for the press room. Within minutes the presses are ready to run. The entire system has been developed within Associated Newspapers. The Harmsworth Quays division is now responsible for all the production services required by Associated Newspapers. A team at Surrey Quays co-ordinates the daily printing requirement for newspapers at contract sites in Belfast, Bradford, Bristol, Didcot, Dundee, Glasgow, Newcastle, Plymouth, Southampton, Stoke, and Trafford Park, and abroad in Madrid, Orlando and Tenerife, and magazines with Quebecor and Polestar Group mainly at Corby and Watford.
Of these printing works, those in England also print the regional group of newspapers published by Northcliffe Media, another division of Daily Mail and General Trust. Recognising the value people place in their local newspaper, the first Viscount Rothermere founded Northcliffe in 1928. The company now owns over 100 titles with 17 publishing centres in England and Wales producing daily, weekly and free newspapers. Since 1994 DMGT has expanded from its newspaper base into a variety of media forms, both in the UK and around the world especially around investments in electronic publishing.
In November 2005 DMGT announced its intention to sell its Northcliffe regional newspaper division. On 17 February 2006 the company announced it was abandoning the sale due to the failure of the bids to 'fully reflect the long term value of the business'. In mid 2006, the company sold Studygroup, a subsidiary of DMG Information, to CHAMP, an Australian based private equity group.
Divisions
Associated Newspapers
Associated Newspapers is the national newspaper arm of DMGT and publishes the following titles
- Daily Mail - The main national newspaper owned by Associated. It sells more than two million copies per issue, giving it one of the largest circulations of any English language daily newspaper, and the twelfth highest of any newspaper in the world.
- The Mail on Sunday - The sister paper of the Daily Mail, published weekly on Sundays. First published in 1982, it has become the most read Sunday newspaper in Britain.
- Evening Standard - The paper was launched as the Standard on 21 May 1827. Paid for London newspaper, it has a dominant City and financial emphasis as well as carrying national and international news.
- Ireland on Sunday - Associated Newspapers took over the publishing of Ireland on Sunday in 2001. The title was re-launched in April 2002 to coincide with the move to its new offices in Ballsbridge, Dublin. It included TV Week magazine and in September 2006 it was merged with the Mail on Sunday and became the Irish Mail on Sunday.
- - A 48-page compact size newspaper launched in India on 16 November 2007 that is printed in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida with a print run of 110,000 copies. Based around a subscription model, the newspaper has the same fonts and feel as the Daily Mail and was set up with investment from Associated Newspapers and editorial assistance from the Daily Mail newsroom. Indian foreign media ownership laws restrict holdings to 26 percent.
- Metro - Metro is the UK’s only urban national newspaper. Launched in March 1999 as a free, stapled newspaper, it was distributed initially in London. But since has been published every weekday morning, around Yorkshire, the North West, the North East, the East Midlands, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff and Scotland. Metro’s readership is 2.2 million (NRS June ‘07), with over 1.3 million copies printed.
- Loot - not a mainstream newspaper, although is available nationally. Classified directory.
- London Lite - free sheet that was formerly called the Standard Lite, but was re-designed to compete with News International's new free sheet thelondonpaper. It is also a free sheet and is handed out by vendors in the evening around the London Zone 1 area.
Northcliffe Media
Northcliffe Media, formerly Northcliffe Newspaper Group, is the regional, local and international multimedia arm of the Daily Mail and General Trust. It owns over 120 newspapers, with 18 of those daily and the rest weekly. It also operates a retail division with 67 outlets and has Central and Eastern European multimedia interests, especially in Hungary and Slovakia.
Northcliffe International
Northcliffe International is the Central and Eastern European multimedia enterprise arm of Northcliffe Media. It has newspapers throughout Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, with their biggest market in Hungary. They also have website interests in Croatia, owning four shopping, home and car websites as well as in Slovakia and Hungary.
The international arm began in 1989, when the Northcliffe Newspaper Group acquired Kisalföld, the largest regional newspaper in Hungary, serving the north-western county of Gyor-Sopron. The group later acquired Délmagyarország, the largest daily title in the south-east of the country, and the English-language weekly newspaper, The Budapest Sun. Northcliffe also invested significantly in new headquarters and printing plants in both Gyor and Szeged.
The total Eastern European business has revenues of £35 million per year and annualised profits of around £6 million. The arm had 801 overseas workers in 2006, but after the arrival in the Croatian market in March 2007, this now exceeds 1,000. The chairman of the European arm is Vivian Baring and the director is Istvan Szammer.
DMG Broadcasting
DMG Broadcasting owns a number of media companies and is the subsidiary of DMGT that controls its British radio, television, film and interactive areas. British Pathe are one of the oldest media companies in the world. British Pathe are now owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust Group. British Pathe footage sales are now managed by ITN Source. Their roots lie in 1890s Paris where their founder, Charles Pathe, pioneered the development of the moving image. They were established in London in 1902, and by 1910 were producing their famous bi-weekly newsreel the Pathe Gazette. After the First World War they started producing various Cinemagazines as well. By 1930 they were producing the Gazette, the Pathetone Weekly, the Pathe Pictorial and Eve's Film Review, covering entertainment, culture and women's issues. By the time Pathe finally stopped producing the cinema newsreel in 1970 they had accumulated 3500 hours of filmed history amounting to over 90,000 individual items. Over the last 30 years this material has been used extensively around the world in television programmes, home videos, advertisements, corporate productions and, most recently, in web publishing.
DMG Broadcasting owns a 20% stake in ITN (Independent Television News). The current ITN contract for ITV News expires at the end of 2012. On 2 April 2007 ITN signed a deal which superseded the existing contract, worth at least £42m per year. ITV, which owns 40% of ITN, is investing more than £15m to upgrade ITN's newsroom as part of the deal. It is believed ITV decided to sign an early deal with ITN without putting the contract out for tender, as it did last time round when Sky News bid, because of the need to press ahead with technological improvements. It has a minority stake in the Reuters news agency, which itself has a stake in ITN. It also owns New Era Commercials.
The Daily Mail and General Trust have a 29.9% stake in GCap Media. DMGT originally had a controlling stake in GWR Radio through DMG Radio, before the merger of GWR group and Capital Radio Group to create GCap. In 2002 it increased its stake to 29.97%. It is the United Kingdom's leading commercial radio group, representing 30% of the total commercial radio business. Between 1996 and 1999 GWR was a major shareholder in London News Radio, which owned and operated London's LBC and News Direct radio stations. These stations were sold to Chrysalis Radio in 2002.
Classic FM is the only nationally available analogue radio station owned by DMGT through its stake in GCap Media. On 25 December 2006 Classic FM opened a sister station theJazz, devoted to jazz music. Classic FM also runs a digital TV channel playing classical music videos, Classic FM TV. It is a British television channel that launched on 7 September 1992. It is the world's first 24-hour classical music channel, and is available free-to-air on satellite, Sky Digital and cable TV services. Classic FM TV is also available on the Internet. Classic FM publishes a monthly magazine, Classic FM Magazine, which presents news and reviews. Through GCap it owns 32 UK Local radio stations including many digital radio channels such as Core.
It also owns 50% of Greenland Interactive, an interactive media and marketing solutions company offering services to agencies, brands, publishers and broadcasters. It is one of the United Kingdom's top five providers of premium rate IVR lines, enabling its customers to deliver a range of interactive services such as voting, competitions, and information and entertainment lines. Established in 1994 Greenland is one of the most experienced companies in the industry with knowledge and experience of successful interactive marketing campaigns.
Teletext Ltd. provides commercial teletext services on all the ITV channels, Channel 4 and analogue five. Other than television, its digital businesses are Teletext Holidays, This is Travel, Teletext Cars, Teletext Mobile and Villarenters.com.
TV stations operated by DMG are part of Harmsworth TV, including the Performance Channel, and Channel One TV, as well as 20% of Westcountry Television.
DMG Radio Australia
DMG Radio Australia operates commercial radio networks in metropolitan and regional areas of Australia. Formed in 1996, it has since become one of the largest radio media companies in the country. DMG Radio Australia is 100% owned by DMG following acquisition in 2002 of 25% held by UK broadcaster GWR. The company currently own more than 60 radio stations across New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia.
DMG World Media
Headquartered in Marin County, California, DMG World Media produces over 300 conventions and trade shows for several industries, including art and antiques, home and garden, gifts, sports and leisure, industrial and technical and hospitality.
DMG Information
DMG Information invests in business to business information-driven companies. It aims to invest in high-growth businesses offering information to niche markets. DMG Information is headquartered in the US, with its main office in Connecticut and other offices in California and Massachusetts. Foremost amongst these are Landmark Information Group, Risk Management Solutions and Environmental Data Resources. In 2006 DMG Information bought Genscape, a US company that supplies information on the energy market for $196m (£110m). Genscape is the market-leading provider of real-time energy generation and transmission information to the energy trading markets in North America and Europe. The company has more than 130 customers, including utilities, investment banks, energy traders and hedge funds. It also has operations in the UK, Australia, France, Germany and India.
Euromoney Institutional Investor
Euromoney Institutional Investor plc is the market leader on international financial publishing and event organisation. It's one of Europe's largest business and financial magazine publishers and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The company, 70% owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust Group, was founded in 1969. The company owns close to 100 international specialist magazines in finance, energy, aviation, pharmaceuticals and law. Euromoney trains international bankers and securities specialists around the world, runs international conferences, and is very strong in electronic publishing. With offices worldwide, its shares are listed in London and Luxembourg.
See also
External links
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