Neo Media Publishing is wholly owned by Media Concierge Holdings, National World’s largest shareholder and one of its original backers.
National World chairman Montgomery founded the PLC in 2019 after a long career in local and national newspapers. In 2020 it acquired 100 newspapers including The Scotsman, The Yorkshire Post, and the Sheffield Star when it bought JPI Media for £10.2m.
However, a fall-out with Media Concierge last year resulted in the business launching a takeover bid, subsequently upping its initial cash offer to 23.00p a share.
This valued National World’s issued, and to be issued, share capital at £65.1m, or an enterprise value of around £52.1m taking into account £13m of cash on its balance sheet.
At a meeting held yesterday (13 February), more than 75% of shareholders by value voted in favour of the scheme of arrangement.
Based on the current timetable, this means that trading in National World shares will be suspended on 10 March, and the company will be delisted on 11 March.
Montgomery and the rest of the National World board are expected to step down, but his newspaper career could take a new turn, as Montgomery continues to be linked with a possible takeover bid for the still-up-for-sale Telegraph Media Group.
Family-owned Media Concierge is helmed by CEO Malcolm Denmark. It offers media buying and direct marketing services with a focus on local media. It owns Dublin-based Iconic Media Group, which publishes regional newspapers and has 19 local websites in Ireland.
Media Concierge had sales of £113.3m in the year to 30 September 2023 and made a pre-tax profit of £9.1m.
For calendar year 2023 National World posted sales of £88.4m, with a statutory operating profit of £8m (2022: £8.9m) prior to exceptional costs. It also owns Midland News Association and Insider Media.
