Examiner to bid for Trinity papers

Thomas Crosbie Holdings, the parent of the Irish Examiner, signalled yesterday that it was likely to bid for Trinity Mirror's Northern Irish businesses, which include the solidly unionist Belfast Newsletter.

British-based Trinity Mirror, which owns the Daily Mirror and a range of regional titles, yesteday ended weeks of speculation when it announced that the Derry Journal group and Century Press were up for sale. Century publishes the Belfast Newsletter, the North's leading unionist daily, the weekly freesheet, Belfast News and Farming Life.

The Derry Journal group owns the Derry Journal, Donegal Democrat, Letterkenny Listener and the Foyle News. The proposed sale is part of a restructuring of Trinity aimed at saving it £25 million sterling (€35.8 million) a year. Sources estimate that both businesses could be worth a total of €20 million-plus.

Thomas Crosbie Holdings chief executive, Mr Anthony Dinan, confirmed yesterday that the group would be interested in bidding for both Northern Irish companies. "We would be interested in looking at them; we will look at anything," he said.

"We only heard the news this morning, so we don't know how they intend to manage the sale, or what the process will be, but we will look at them," he added. Thomas Crosbie Holdings bought the Sunday Business Post from Trinity last year for €10 million.

Thomas Crosbie Holdings is owned by the Cork-based Crosbie family and is the ultimate owner of the Irish Examiner and Cork Evening Echo titles, along with a range of regional titles and some radio interests. This year it bought the London-based Irish Post from the Smurfit group.

Independent News & Media would not comment yesterday. However, there are some doubts in the market that the Irish and British competition regulators would approve a sale of the Trinity businesses to the group, which already owns the Belfast Telegraph.

A Trinity Mirror spokesman would not comment on media reports that the group approached US-based Gannett and British publisher Johnston with a view to negotiating the sale of the Northern Irish businesses.

Trinity yesterday unveiled interim results showing a 2.6 per cent rise in first half pre-tax profits to £80.4 million sterling (€115 million), pre-tax profits were up 3.3 per cent to 19p (27.2 cents) per share. Turnover shrank slightly to £555 million.

Chief executive, Ms Sly Bailey, also announced that along with selling Derry Journal and Century, restructuring would involve the axing of 500 jobs, or 5 per cent of the workforce.