National World: Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman owner agrees £65m takeover

Shareholders in National World, the media group whose titles include Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman, are set for a bumper pay day as a takeover deal which values it at over £65m was agreed.

Irish media group Media Concierge, which currently holds a 26 per cent stake in National World, first tabled an offer worth £56.2m in November.

That offer was a 40 per cent premium to National World’s closing price on Thursday, 21 November.

The new offer, which is to be recommended by National World’s board, is a 53.3 per cent premium and values the group’s ordinary share capital at approximately £65.1m on a fully diluted basis, and implies an enterprise value of around £52.1m.

Under the terms of the acquisition, each National World shareholder will be entitled to receive 23p in cash for each share.

The deal is expected to complete during the first quarter of 2025.

Media Concierge has given assurances not to make “material” job losses across editorial and production teams, which account for around two-thirds of employees at National World.

It also said it does not plan to close any local news brands.

But the group has warned there could be “material job reductions in areas of overlap” across the two companies as it looks to make savings following the deal.

It said: “Once National World ceases to be a listed company, a limited number of public company-related functions may become unnecessary and therefore be reduced in scope.

“However, Media Concierge has not yet developed any firm intentions in this regard.”

National World has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since September 2019.

The company, which is headquartered in Leeds, operates over 100 newspapers and websites in the UK and has been run by David Montgomery.

In its half-year results, National World posted a revenue of £48.8m, up from £41.6m, while its pre-tax profit nudged up from £1.7m to £2.3m.

For its latest full year, the company’s revenue rose from £84.1m to £88.4m but its pre-tax profit fell from £5.2m to £3.1m.

The news comes on the same day the Observer newspaper’s sale to Tortoise Media was confirmed after a deal was signed by The Scott Trust and Guardian Media Group (GMG).

The Observer is being bought by Tortoise Media through a combination of cash and shares. The total consideration has not been announced.

Tortoise Media has also agreed a five-year commercial agreement with GMG, which will see it pay for both print and distribution services, as well as marketing through the Guardian.

The Scott Trust will have a nine per cent stake in Tortoise Media and will join new and existing investors by committing £5m into Tortoise Media as part of the £25m investment.