Radio Times publisher to be put up for sale

Immediate Media, the publisher of Radio Times, BBC Top Gear magazine, You & Your Wedding, BBC Gardeners’ World, Match of the Day, BBC Good Food Magazine, Triathlon, Urban Cyclist and other consumer magazines, is being readied for auction within weeks.

According to the Sunday Times, the publisher may fetch its private equity owner Exponent around £300m in a trade sale. Exponent is believed to have been talking to several potential advisers to help facilitate the auction process and will make a choice before the end of May.

Immediate Media is said to make net profits of around £40 million a year across 70 brands, selling around 74 million magazines a year. It employs 1,100 staff at offices in Bristol, London, Manchester and Camberley.

Its flagship publication Radio Times was recently been named Media Brand of the Year at the 2016 British Media Awards. With an ABC of 732,765 it retains its position as the most valuable brand on the UK newsstand. It also has a healthy 9.1 million online visitors a month.

Immediate Media was put together in 2011 as a merger between Origin Publishing, BBC Magazines and niche magazine publisher Magicalia. Exponent is now keen to crystallise profits on its investment after steadily increasing profits over the past five years.

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