Trinity Mirror’s regional newspaper head Rachel Addison poised to depart amid commercial strategy review
Trinity Mirror’s regional newspaper chief Rachel Addison is set to depart the publisher as it launches a review of its commercial strategy that will be headed up by former chief operating officer Mark Hollinshead.
Trinity Mirror is launching a commercial strategy review in partnership with Mark Hollinshead
News of Addison’s imminent departure was first broken by Sky News, which said a statement is likely to be made internally before the weekend.
Her departure comes 18 months after the regional newspaper giant acquired Local World, where she served as senior executive. The deal cost Trinity Mirror £220m and added 83 print titles to the company's stable of local titles, making it the biggest regional news publisher in the UK.
The deal was a bold one considering regional news has suffered the hardest blow by print advertising declines. In its most recent trading update, Trinity Mirror reported a 19% slide in print advertising revenues across its national and regional titles in the first four months of this year. Such steep declines meant that overall group revenue fell by 9% on a like for like basis.
Now the company is hiring Mark Hollinshead, its former chief operating officer, to help steer a review of its commercial strategy and produce a turnaround.
Hollinshead, who left Trinity Mirror in 2014 to join The Great Run Company as group chief executive, is launching a public relations and strategic communications agency, Hollicom, which is expected to work closely with Trinity Mirror’s senior executives on launching a review of the business.
The Scottish agency will be headquartered in Glasgow and will offer a portfolio of media services, including media consultancy, crisis management, media training and regional marketing planning.
According to Sky News, the review will focus only on commercial strategy, and will not include the prospect of a sale or other form of exit.
The Drum contacted Trinity Mirror for comment, but it did not reply by time of publication.