Trinity rises amid tough day for FTSE

Shares in Trinity Mirror jumped 7.5 per cent after the publisher of the Daily Mirror struck a £126.7 million deal to buy a string of titles from Richard Desmond’s media empire, including the Daily Express and OK! magazine.

Trinity Mirror will stump up an initial payment of £47.7m to Northern & Shell, followed by £59m between 2020 and 2023 and a further £20m in shares to the privately-owned firm.

The prospect of cost-savings from the tie-up appeared to buoy investor sen- timent and shares in the media giant closed up 5.2p at 75p.

David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “The owner of the Daily Mirror, Trinity Mirror is to acquire Northern & Shell, which own the Daily Express, in a deal that is worth nearly £127m. The buyout will reduce costs up to the tune of £20m per year.”

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 closed the session down 78.26 points or 1.1 per cent at 7,092.43 capping a volatile week for global stocks. It came amid a shaky first few hours of trading in New York after the Dow Jones suffered its second 1,000-point drop within a week on Thursday. Madden said: “There was a sense that things weren’t too bad in terms of sentiment in the morning, but as we approach the weekend, the nerves are beginning to show. [US] traders are covering short positions and some are snapping up bargains, but… the fear hasn’t fully left the market.”