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Firm Publications look for buyers to save titles

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

July 31, 2003 | 2 min read

Firm Publications, the Edinburgh-based publishing house, is looking for a buyer for its four magazine titles after it was forced out of business, following a lull in advertising revenue.

The company, which produces four business titles – Business and Finance, Catering in Scotland, Property Executive and flagship magazine, Firm, which is aimed at Scotland’s legal profession – was founded four years ago by publisher Steven McColl and Bill Frain-Bell.

Philip Healey, publisher of Scottish glossy Caledonia magazine, which is also actively seeking a buyer, held a 25 per cent share in Firm Publications and it is thought that he has now written off the investment, which he made last year.

Staff on the titles have been told not to come to work while McColl attempts to sell the portfolio of titles, which is thought to have attracted interest from a number of parties.

McColl said: "We have a good set of magazines but we just don't have access to the money we need. There is a good viable business there with some very good people; it is just a shame after four years of hard work it has come to this. We're open to offers, whether they are for the company as a whole or individual magazines. We already have some very strong interest, so hopefully we can do something with that."

McColl added that neither he nor Frain-Bell have paid themselves since October.

Nobody at Caledonia was available for comment on its future as The Drum went to press.

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