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Reach plc

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"Mirror Group" redirects here. Not to be confused withMirror (group).

Reach plc
Company typePublic limited company
LSE:RCH
IndustryPublishing
Founded1903;121 years ago(1903)
HeadquartersOne Canada Square
London, England, UK[1]
Key people
ProductsNational and regionalnewspapers,magazines
(seelist of titles)
RevenueDecrease£568.6 million (2023)[2]
Decrease£96.5 million (2023)[2]
Decrease£21.5 million (2023)[2]
Websitewww.reachplc.com

Reach plc(known asTrinity Mirrorbetween 1999 and 2018) is a British newspaper, magazine anddigitalpublisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the nationalDaily Mirror,Sunday Mirror,The Sunday People,Daily Express,Sunday Express,Daily Star,Daily Star Sundayas well as the ScottishDaily RecordandSunday Mailand the magazineOK!Since purchasingLocal World,it has gained 83 print publications. Reach plc's headquarters are at theOne Canada SquareinLondon.It is listed on theLondon Stock Exchange.

History

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TheDaily Mirrorwas launched byAlfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe,"for gentlewomen" in 1903.[3]The company was first listed on theLondon Stock Exchangeon 2 December 1953.[4]In 1958 theInternational Publishing Company(IPC) acquired Mirror Group Newspapers, but IPC was in turn taken over by publishing giantReed Internationalin 1970.[5]In 1984Pergamon Holdings,a company owned byRobert Maxwell,acquired theDaily Mirror[3]from Reed International. The company was relisted asMirror Groupin 1991.[6]

In 1991 the company was due to be investigated via anAnton Piller orderfor alleged theft of software from companies includingAdobe Inc.,AutodeskandMicrosoft.The action was delayed as it coincided with Maxwell's death, but was recommenced in 1992. Subsequently it was reported that "At the Mirror Group, for instance, 700 out of the 800 software programs in use were found to be illegal".[7]

The company bought Scottish & Universal Newspapers in 1992, and in 1997 it acquired theBirmingham Post and Mailgroup of newspapers.[3]In 1999 Trinity International Holdings, owners of theLiverpool Echo,merged with Mirror Group to form Trinity Mirror.[8]

During 2005 the company introduced a number of measures to manage discretionary spending more carefully, some of which attracted press attention.[9]

In 2007, the company sought to sell a number of titles: theReading Chroniclewas sold to Berkshire Media Group[10]and 25 Trinity Mirror South titles were sold toNorthcliffe Media.[11]On 1 October 2007 it was announced that the sale of theRacing Posthad been completed: the entire sale process had raised £263 million.[12]

The Trinity Mirror logo used until May 2018

In September 2008 the company announced that it would be closing the printing plant inLiverpoolafter 154 years of printing in the city, and transferring the work to Oldham.[13]

In February 2010, Trinity Mirror bought the regional M.E.N. Media and S&B Media divisions ofGuardian Media Group,containing 22 local titles across Northern England and in Surrey and Berkshire. This included theManchester Evening NewsandReading Evening Post.[14]

In March 2010 Trinity Mirror stated that it would end its bout of staff cuts and newspaper closures. The announcement came as the company reported pre-tax profits of £72.7m for 2009, exceeding analysts expectations.[15]

In January 2012 it was announced Trinity Mirror acquired Communicator Corp, a digital communications company specialising in email and mobile communications for £8m.[16]In August 2013, Trinity Mirror announced its partnership with whocanfixmycar.com, a portal connecting motorists nationwide with trusted local garages and mechanics.[17]

In June 2014, Trinity Mirror transitioned its online bingo software from Dragonfish to Virtue Fusion fromPlaytechfor its group of bingo brands.[18]

In November 2015, Trinity Mirror purchasedLocal World,a major stakeholder in local news titles, fromDMGT.Local World had been formed by former Trinity chief exec David Montgomery in 2012 to consolidate all DMGT's local newspaper holdings other than theMetro,expanding their holdings while streamlining production, to make the group more saleable. Its 115 titles were formed primarily by those of Harmsworth's historicNorthcliffe Newspapers Group,alongside other smaller purchases made by DMGT and Local World subsequently, including the 2007 purchase from Trinity. The purchase increased Trinity Mirror's local circulation by around 50%. The deal valued Local World at around £220 million.[19]

In February 2018, the company completed the acquisition of the publishing assets ofNorthern & Shell,including theDaily Express,Sunday Express,Daily Star(collectively the Express & Star Group), andOK!.[20]Following completion, Trinity Mirror announced a plan to rebrand asReach,subject to investor approval at a meeting scheduled for May 2018.[21]Following completion of the acquisition, theCompetition and Markets Authoritylaunched a preliminary investigation into the deal, requiring Trinity Mirror to keep Express Newspapers as a standalone entity.[22]

In July 2020, Reach announced that it was cutting 550 jobs, 12% of its workforce, because of falling income amid reduced demand for advertising in its titles.[23]

Phone hacking

[edit]

In January 2011, former MPPaul Marsdenannounced that he was considering taking legal action against Trinity Mirror, over allegedphone hacking.[24]On 24 September 2014, Trinity Mirror admitted that some of its journalists had been involved in phone hacking.[25][26]It admitted liability and agreed to pay compensation to four people who had sued for the alleged hacking of voicemails (entertainerShane Richie,soap actressesShobna GulatiandLucy Benjaminand BBC creative directorAlan Yentob). The four also received an apology. Trinity Mirror also announced that it had earlier settled six other phone hacking claims in relation to former England football managerSven-Göran Eriksson,footballerGarry Flitcroft,actorChristopher Eccleston,showbusiness agent Phil Dale, Richie's wife Christine Roche and Abbie Gibson, a former nanny of David and Victoria Beckham. As of September 2014, a further 19 claims were registered at the High Court and another 10 claimants had indicated they would bring proceedings against Trinity Mirror.[27]Other reports claimed that the number of victims could be much higher, with Evan Harris, associate director of the pressure groupHacked Offdescribing the revelations as: "… just the tip of a very big iceberg".[28]On 6 November 2014,Graham Johnson,pleaded guilty atWestminster Magistrates' Court.[29]

On 13 February 2015, Trinity Mirror published a public apology to "all its victims of phone hacking" on page two of theDaily Mirror.[30]It also set aside funds to cover the cost of settling phone hacking compensation payments.[31]The same apology was printed in the following editions of theSunday PeopleandSunday Mirror.[31]

A hearing at the High Court in London heard on 3 March 2015 that one Mirror group journalist had hacked the phones of some 100 celebrities every day and that 109 stories had been published about just seven claimants.[32]On 21 May 2015, damages totalling nearly £1.25m were awarded to eight people as the result of phone hacking by Mirror Group journalists, including actressSadie Frost(£260,000) and ex-footballerPaul Gascoigne(£188,250). Other damages recipients included soap opera actorsShane Richie(£155,000),Shobna Gulati(£117,500) andLucy Benjamin(real name Lucy Taggart, £157,250), as well as BBC creative directorAlan Yentob(£85,000), TV producer Robert Ashworth (former husband ofCoronation StreetactressTracy Shaw,£201,250) and flight attendant Lauren Alcorn (former girlfriend of footballerRio Ferdinand,£72,500).[33]The Mirror Group said it would consider whether to seek permission to appeal against the size of the damages, but increased the money allocated to deal with phone hacking claims from £12 million to £28 million.[33]

On 15 December 2023,Prince Harry, Duke of Sussexwas awarded £140,600 by theHigh Courtin damages againstMirror Group Newspapersafter 15 out of 33 sample articles in his claim against MGN were ruled as being the product of phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering.[34][35][36]

Operations

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Newspapers

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Further information:List of Reach plc titles

Reach plc's printing division, Reach Printing Services,[37]is located at nine press sites throughout the UK, printing and distributing thirty-six major newspapers for the UK, including theDaily MirrorandSunday Mirror,theSunday People,theDaily Record(in Scotland), and other contract titles including titles for theGuardian Media Group.[38]Reach plc also owns a number of local titles in Northern England and in Surrey and Berkshire, after acquiring a number of titles from theGuardian Media Groupin 2010.[14]

Digital

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In 2013, Trinity Mirror launched the content websitesUsVsTh3mandAmpp3don an experimental basis.UsVsTh3mwas a website similar toBuzzFeedfocused on quizzes and Flash games, edited byB3tafounderRob Manueland running theTumblrplatform.Ampp3dfocused ondata journalism[39][40]and used theWordPressplatform. Both websites were closed down in 2015.[41]

References

[edit]
  1. ^Massey, Jon (3 March 2016)."Trinity Mirror pledges its future to Canary Wharf for a further 10 years".The Wharf.Retrieved24 October2017.
  2. ^abc"Annual Results 2023"(PDF).Reach.Retrieved5 March2024.
  3. ^abcMolloy, Mike (29 November 2013)."Wade's world".The Independent.Retrieved21 January2021.
  4. ^London Stock Exchange.London Stock Exchange (2 December 1953).
  5. ^IPC Media website.Ipcmedia.com.
  6. ^"Maxwell Scandal Timeline".Accountancyage.com. 29 March 2001..
  7. ^Whybrow, Martin (12 October 1992)."PC pirates who sail the software seas: Rogue programs are bad news for supplier and user alike, warns Martin Whybrow".The Independent.Retrieved10 July2019.
  8. ^Wright, Jade (25 August 2007)."Trusted voices of Liverpool".Liverpool Echo.Retrieved11 April2018.
  9. ^"Trinity Mirror cancels Christmas - Press Gazette".14 June 2009. Archived fromthe originalon 14 June 2009.
  10. ^Tryhorn, Chris (19 July 2007)."Trinity Mirror sells Berkshire Regionals for £10m]".The Guardian.
  11. ^Fenton, Ben. (7 July 2007)Northcliffe buys 25 titles from Trinity Mirror.Financial Times.
  12. ^Edgecliffe, Andrew. (1 October 2007)Trinity Mirror calls halt to disposals.Financial Times.
  13. ^Luft, Oliver (5 September 2008)."Up to 100 jobs at risk as Trinity Mirror plans to close Liverpool print plant".The Guardian.
  14. ^ab"Manchester Evening News sold by Guardian Media Group".Manchester Evening News.9 February 2010.Retrieved9 February2010.
  15. ^"Trinity Mirror to stop cutbacks".4 March 2010.Retrieved5 March2010.
  16. ^Sweney, Mark (4 January 2012)."Trinity Mirror buys email and mobile firm Communicator Corp for £8m".The Guardian.
  17. ^"Home - Trinity Mirror plc".
  18. ^"Trinity Mirror Transitioning to Virtue Fusion".bingoreviewer.co.uk. 6 June 2014.
  19. ^Sweney, Mark (28 October 2015)."Trinity Mirror confirms £220m Local World deal".The Guardian.
  20. ^"Annual Report 2017"(PDF).Trinity Mirror plc. p. 3.Retrieved5 March2018.
  21. ^Sweney, Mark (5 March 2018)."Trinity Mirror to rebrand as Reach after Express and Star deal".The Guardian.Retrieved5 March2018.
  22. ^Sweney, Mark (23 April 2018)."Mirror takeover of Express and Star faces fresh investigation".The Guardian.Retrieved23 April2018.
  23. ^Partridge, Joanna (7 July 2020)."Mirror and Express owner Reach to cut 550 jobs"– via www.theguardian.com.
  24. ^"Phone-hacking: Review to consider new claims",BBC News,24 January 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  25. ^Gallivan, Rory and Zekaria, Simon (September 2014)"Trinity Mirror Admits Liability Over Phone Hacking",Wall Street Journal,24 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014
  26. ^Sweney, Mark (September 2014)."Trinity Mirror faces up to the financial fallout as phone-hacking claims mount",The Guardian,28 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  27. ^"Phone-hacking: Trinity Mirror admits liability",BBC News online, 24 September 2014 (Retrieved 29 September 2014)
  28. ^Cusick, James and Milmo, Cahal (September 2014)."Trinity Mirror 'could face hundreds of claims' from phone hacking victims",The Independent,24 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  29. ^"Ex-Sunday Mirror reporter Graham Johnson admits phone hacking".BBC News.6 November 2014.Retrieved6 November2014.
  30. ^Plunkett, John (13 February 2015)."Daily Mirror prints apology to phone-hacking victims".The Guardian.London.Retrieved15 February2015.
  31. ^ab"Phone-hacking: Trinity Mirror apologises to its victims".BBC News.13 February 2015.Retrieved15 February2015.
  32. ^"Phone hacking 'rife' at Mirror Group Newspapers".BBC News.3 March 2015.Retrieved3 March2015.
  33. ^ab"Phone hacking: Celebrities win damages from Mirror Group".BBC News.21 May 2015.Retrieved21 May2015.
  34. ^Ward, Victoria (15 December 2023)."Prince Harry was victim of phone hacking by Mirror newspapers, judge rules".The Telegraph.Archivedfrom the original on 15 December 2023.Retrieved15 December2023.
  35. ^Coughlan, Sean (15 December 2023)."Harry wins 15 claims in phone-hacking case against Mirror publisher".BBC News.Archivedfrom the original on 15 December 2023.Retrieved15 December2023.
  36. ^Siddique, Haroon (15 December 2023)."Prince Harry v Mirror Group: key findings of the phone-hacking case".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 15 December 2023.Retrieved15 December2023.
  37. ^"Reach Printing Services Ltd".reachprintingservices.co.uk.
  38. ^Oldham's Economic Profile - Printing & Publishing,oldham.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
  39. ^Sweney, Mark (8 December 2013)."Trinity Mirror builds on the success of UsVsTh3m with launch of Ampp3d".The Guardian.
  40. ^"Ampp3d: News, facts and stats".Daily Mirror.Trinity Mirror.
  41. ^Jackson, Jasper (13 May 2015)."Trinity Mirror's UsVsTh3m and Ampp3d thought to be facing axe as jobs set to go".The Guardian.
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