Reader's Digest UK bought out of administration

Reader's Digest in the UK has been bought out of administration by Better Capital, well-known private equity veteran Jon Moulton's investment firm.

The 72-year-old British edition went into administration in February after its US parent was unable to support it following a pension fund crisis.

Better Capital said it had backed a management buy-out in a £13m deal that secures the future of the business and the jobs of the 100 people who work for the company.

Some employees had already been made redundant since the company went into administration, while others had been transferred to the US parent group, the administrator Philip Sykes told the BBC.

The US parent has agreed to let the company publish using the Reader's Digest brand under licence.

"It's rare to have an opportunity to back a dynamic management team to run a business with the heritage and brand strength of Reader's Digest," said Mark Aldridge, chief executive of Better Capital.

He said the new management team envisaged no "fundamental changes" to the business.

"With greater investment and expansion through the internet," he said, the magazine could reach a much wider audience.

Posted at 07:45PM Apr 09, 2010 by Kelly Board in Insolvency  |  Comments[0]

New Car Sales Up in March

New car sales in the UK saw a further rise in March according to the latest industry figures, they have gone up by a substantial 26.6% compared with the same period in 2009.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have said that there have been 397,383 new cars registered in the UK in March, branding the new ’10 registration plate that was introduced at the beginning of the month.

The good figures are being treated with caution however, as March last year was a notoriously bad month for the industry, in which figures well be 30% against 2008’s numbers.

The SMMT now believe that demand for cars is going to continually increase for the foreseeable future, however actual sales may fall slightly now that the UK scrappage scheme has come to a close, the scheme had previously offered buyers a £2000 discount on new cars if they scrapped a car older than 10 years old.

The scrappage has accounted for 12.2% of the sale that have gone through in March.

March has traditionally been one of the better months for car sales along with September, as new number plates are introduced at these times.

"The UK motor industry has enjoyed a better-than-anticipated first quarter of 2010," said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive.

"A strong March performance was underpinned by the scrappage incentive and improving demand in the fleet sector.

"The coming months will remain challenging and headline registration numbers are expected to dip.”

The scrappage scheme did provide a much need boost for the car industry after poor sales figures triggered by the recession, however the figures were still nowhere near as good as 2008, when in March there was over 450,000 new car sales.

2009’s figures were reflected all around the world as the global financial crisis took its toll on people’s spending.

Posted at 10:24AM Apr 09, 2010 by Marc Stenton in The Economy  |  Comments[0]