TI used to be one of the UK’s biggest paper buyers, but the decline in magazine circulations and closure of some of its titles has seen its tonnage reduce.
Newsstand sales of its titles were also hit by lockdown measures.
However, it is still understood to be the biggest user of publication paper in the country, at around 40,000 tonnes, while its new parent Future has a much smaller requirement.
TI has outsourced paper buying to DMG Media’s procurement wing, headed by Rick Stunt, which is believed to be the biggest paper buyer in the UK with an estimated volume of more than 300,000 tonnes per annum.
DMG already buys newsprint for other publishers, including the Evening Standard and Metro, JPI Media and MNA’s Express & Star.
An industry source commented: “It’s very interesting because now we have a newspaper company competing for the buying of magazine paper.
“It’s also significant combining the power of all that volume.”
TI Media chief executive Marcus Rich – who has transitioned out of the business as part of the integration process – was previously a senior executive at DMG Media, where he worked for five years before joining TI in 2014.
TI uses the Paperman paper management system. UPM is the biggest supplier of paper to the business.
Parent group Future has a separate arrangement with Gould Publication Papers for paper purchasing and management.
TI and Future declined to comment on the outsourcing deal.
Separately, TI has switched its substantial polywrap spend to paper having moved all its subscription copies to paper wrapping, which TI said would remove 10.8m items of polyethylene from its supply chain and reduce its carbon footprint.
The move involved a team effort between TI Media print partner Walstead, Westcolour which handles paper wrapping at Walstead Bicester, and Air Business which manages the wrapping contract and handles delivery of subs copies.
£221.5m turnover Future agreed to buy £201.5m turnover TI in a £140m deal in the autumn last year.
The deal was subsequently approved by the CMA in April after Future agreed to divest three “closely competing” products: World Soccer; Amateur Photographer; and tech website Trustedreviews.com.
In a business update issued last month, Future said that progress on its expected cost synergies of £15m per annum within 24 months was “well underway” with savings of £9m already secured.
It said that despite newsstand sales falling by some 30% during lockdown, full-year trading was currently expected to be “towards the top end of market expectations”, which is for EBITDA for the year ending 30 September of between £86.3m to £91.0m.
Future said that in recognition of the group’s “continued strong performance”, it would repay the support received from the government's furlough scheme.
The restructuring of back- and front-office functions is expected to cost around £9m.
“As part of the next phase in the delivery of these synergies, the group is commencing a consultation process with employee representatives in relation to a proposed reduction in workforce,” Future stated.
