Jobs set to go in Record and Mail merger

Published on Saturday 21 February 2009 12:47

THE Daily Record & Sunday Mail is expected to announce job losses and a top-level shake-up this week as it merges operations at the two titles.

The restructuring is the latest in a sector suffering from falling advertising revenue and sales. It is not known how many employees will be affected.

Scotsman Publications, publisher of Scotland on Sunday, is also undergoing an efficiency drive, with cutbacks imminent.

The changes at the Record will be unveiled this week as parent company Trinity Mirror confirms a continuing deterioration in advertising revenue.

Analysts at Numis expect pre-tax profits of 115m to fall to 75m the following year, implying a further tightening of costs and possibly more cutbacks.

The changes at the Record & Sunday Mail are likely to see Record editor Bruce Waddell installed as editor-in-chief with a new role for Mail editor Alan Rennie. It is thought their deputies, Murray Elder at the Record and Jim Wilson at the Mail, will be handed the editorships.

Television companies are also feeling the pinch. STV is expected to show a deterioration in revenue, although Richards, at Numis, still expects STV to outperform ITV due to a more favourable advertising mix and a higher proportion of local commercials.

The company has not paid a dividend since 2006 and is not expected to do so this time. However, Richards believes payments could resume in the coming year.