Major restructure of Archant ahead
Community media group Archant has announced that it is set to cut some of its divisions in a bid to deliver growth for the company.
The group’s newspaper publishing division Archant Regional will see the merging of three of its businesses which cover Norfolk, Suffolk, Herfordshire and Cambridgeshire becom Archant Anglia.
The division will be headed up by managing director of Archant Lifestyle Johnny Hustler.
As a result, Miller Hogg, managing director of Archant Specialist will take over from Hustler as head of Archant Lifestyle, which spans Archant Life, Archant Specialist and Archant Dialogue and now also includes Archant South West and Archant KOS Media.
Hustler explained: “The new Anglia structure allows us to orchestrate some of the strongest local media brands in the country and allows us to provide our customers with an array of flexible solutions, whether they are local or stretch across the whole of East Anglia.”
Meanwhle, Archant London will also be created through the merging of the group’s London newspaper and magazine business, headed up by Enzo Testa.
“We believe we are the largest purely local community media player in print in London, and have one of the fastest growing local news websites in London24.com,” commented Testa. “Combining the strength of our newspapers, magazines and websites across London’s communities will increase our ability to grow our presence in the most dynamic media marketplace in the UK, and provide better solutions for our customers.”
Meanwhile, Stephan Phillips, managing director of Archant Norfolk will take early retirement, while Stuart McCreery, managing director of Archant Suffolk, Herts & Cambs will also leave the company.
Adrian Jeakings, chief executive of Archant, said: “We are living through a time of unprecedented change and increasing competition in the media industry. Our future growth depends on our ability to respond rapidly and cost-effectively to our customers’ evolving needs. These structural changes will help us do this better and faster.”