John Menzies looks ahead after another contract renewal
JOHN Menzies has chalked up another major contract renewal in its traditional newspaper and magazine distribution business.
Menzies Distribution said it was pleased to confirm a successful renegotiation of contract terms with Telegraph Media Group.
The company said the new agreement would see Menzies continue to distribute the Telegraph’s portfolio of newspaper titles in the UK and Ireland until October 2019. The deal secures some £75 million of annual trade sales value.
David McIntosh, managing director of the division, said: “This renewal is a further step in underpinning our core business. With the Telegraph, News International and Marketforce now signed up to long-term contracts through to 2019, we can plan for the future knowing we have a strong core to build from.”
Last December the Edin- burgh-based group successf ul l y r e ne g o t i a t e d its contract with Marketforce, one of the UK’s largest maga- zine distributors, in a fiveyear deal from January 2015, worth some £122m of annual sales revenue. That followed the signing last August of a seven-year deal with News International, the market leader with a 34% share, worth £158m of annual revenue, and a previous renewal with D C Thomson.
At the same time as the Marketforce deal was announced, non-executive Dermot Jenkinson sold 250,000 shares at 594p.
The only other significant recent sale was three months later in March, when nonexecutive Ian Harrison sold 100,000 shares at 766p.
Pa u l Dol l man, who stepped down as finance director at this month’s annual meeting, said his worst moment in 11 years at Menzies was in March 2009, when shares crashed to 43p.
The shares reached their latest peak on May 15 at 801p. Yesterday they moved up 10p to 770p.
In a trading update last week, Menzies Distribution warned that magazine sales had been poor with weeklies particularly affected by lower volumes and closures.