Mirror Regional Sales’ 30 staff face an uncertain future following
Trinity Mirror’s decision to close the sales house and transfer its
remaining clients to Amra.
As predicted in Media Business (4 October), Amra, Trinity Mirror’s
biggest sales subsidiary, will take over the remaining Mirror Regional
Sales business - selling 45 Midlands regional titles - from January.
The 15 staff in Mirror Regional Sales’ Canary Wharf office are being
interviewed for positions at Amra and within Trinity Mirror, but many
are expected to be made redundant. The Birmingham operation will move to
Amra’s Manchester office and some of the 15 staff may be asked to
relocate.
Mirror Regional Sales’ sales director Peter Moore has not been offered a
position at Amra but is being interviewed for a possible role at The
Mirror by group ad director Mark Pritchett. He is also talking to other
national sales houses.
Moore said: ’I’m very disappointed that it’s happened and that it has
dragged on for so long. I’m sorry for my staff, they’re bloody good
people and it’s a shame they can’t take on everybody.’
The portfolio being transferred to Amra includes the troubled Birmingham
Post and Mail, Coventry Newspapers, Midlands Weekly Media, which
includes the Birmingham Metro News Group, the Solihull Times Series and
Sutton Coldfield News.
The transfer boosts Amra’s share of the regional market to 27 per cent,
consolidating its lead over Mediaforce. It now represents the UK’s four
leading regional dailies - the Birmingham Evening Mail, the West
Midlands Express and Star, the Manchester Evening News and the Liverpool
Echo.
In the West Midlands, Amra will have two thirds of the market and it
also has strong positions in the North East, North West and Wales.
The Birmingham Post and Mail’s managing director Mark Haysom said: ’The
decision will greatly benefit advertisers as it acknowledges their
demand for consolidation of sales points.’
Amra’s chief executive Mike McCormack said: ’This gives us the critical
mass to tackle the issues facing the industry as it undergoes tremendous
change.’
