Guardian Media Group is mulling a sale of its regional newspaper division GMG Regional Media, and has held preliminary talks to that end over the past few months.
The division, which includes the Manchester Evening News (MEN), employs about 800 people across several local newspapers.
The MEN was established in 1868, and was acquired by John Scott, the son of the Guardian owner, C.P. Scott in 1924.
Similarly to other local newspapers, GMG's regional division has suffered from a recent drop in advertising revenue. Operating profits have fallen from £14.3m in 2007 to £500,000 last year. Its classified advertising revenues fell by 30% over the same period.
The group, which publishes The Guardian and The Observer, is losing £100,000 per day. It lost £89.8m in the year to March, which is partly due to the sale of its 49.9% holding in Trader Media Group.
It is thought that Trinity Mirror, the newspaper publisher that prints GMG's papers, is considering buying the business for £40m.
GMG's regional arm is comprised of MEN Media, which publishes 22 North West-based weekly papers, and Surrey & Berkshire Media, which publishes the Surrey Advertiser and the Reading Evening Post, amongst others.
