Dennis Publishing puts The Week up for sale

Dennis Publishing has put its news and current affairs publication The Week up for sale, hiring Liontree Advisors to oversee the process. The move comes as the print media industry is coming under pressure as readers increasingly turn to online media.

While print circulation for The Week has been following the declining trend impacting the wider industry, its youth-oriented current affairs publication The Week Junior has seen strong increases in sales.

Despite the struggles of print media, industry analysts say that the sale of such a prominent title is likely to draw significant interest from major publishers in the newspaper sector. Several big groups are said to be among those considering a bid.

Dennis Publishing is owned by private equity firm Exponent, which beat out Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) to acquire the group in 2018. As of yet, it is unknown whether DMGT will be among the parties considering an offer for The Week.

The group’s portfolio includes several prominent print publications, such as AutoExpress, MoneyWeek, Viz, Fortean Times and Minecraft World. Dennis Publishing has said that none of the other titles in its portfolio will be put up for sale.

The Week hived its assets and liabilities up to Dennis Publishing at the end of 2019. Prior to this, its last available accounts at Companies House for the year ending December 31 2019 show the publication registering post-tax profits of £1.4 million on turnover of £28 million. While turnover had increased slightly from around £26.5 million in 2018, post-tax profits had fallen from £5.4 million.

At the time, the publication had fixed assets of £3.1 million and current assets of £7.7 million, leaving it with total equity of around £10.8 million.


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