Zinc Media Group has sold its non-core publishing business for £100,000 in a strategic move to enhance its core operations.
- The transaction involves Zinc Communicate Publishing, a Macclesfield-based unit, sold to Specialist Business Media Ltd.
- This sale enables Zinc Media to focus on its television and brand content production activities.
- Zinc Communicate, with revenues of £2.2m in FY23, has been loss-making and demanding significant resources.
- The divestment allows the business to continue within a more specialist publisher, maintaining its industry contributions.
Zinc Media Group has strategically offloaded its non-core publishing unit, Zinc Communicate Publishing, for a sum of £100,000. This move is intended to allow Zinc Media to concentrate more on its core operations within the television and brand content production sectors. The affected business, based in Macclesfield, generated revenues of £2.2 million in FY23 but recorded a loss before tax of £50,000 and has remained loss-making into FY24.
Originally founded in 1995 as McMillan Scott, Zinc Communicate, known until recently as Ten Alps Publishing, specialises in telesales and contract publishing. This involves selling advertising and commercial space and producing publications for the construction and freight industries. It is also noted for producing building control guides for English local authorities and renewing long-term partnerships.
The purchaser, Specialist Business Media Ltd, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Datateam Group, a Maidstone-based publishing and events firm with expertise in digital and print media across various B2B sectors. Zinc Communicate will cease trading under its current name upon completion of the sale. Any net proceeds from the transaction will be used for working capital purposes within Zinc Media.
The deal follows a comprehensive competitive process managed by Trillium Partners for Zinc Media Group, with completion expected by the end of October, subject to typical closing conditions. As of 31 December 2023, Zinc Communicate had net assets valued at £0.8 million, involving numerous small, long-term trade debtor balances.
Mark Browning, CEO of Zinc Media Group, affirmed the strategic importance of the sale, stating, “Zinc Media Group has doubled in size in the last few years, with rapid expansion in television and brand content production.” He expressed gratitude to the Macclesfield team for their dedication over the years and conveyed his best wishes for their future under new ownership.
The sale marks a key step in Zinc Media’s strategy to enhance its focus on profitable content production sectors.
