New Northcliffe Media chief launches 'radical' review

Steve Auckland, Northcliffe Media's new managing director , is to launch a review of the 115 regional newspapers in the division in a bid to return it to growth. Auckland, who has spent the past eight years building the Northcliffe parent company Daily Mail & General Trust's freesheet Metro into a £20m-a-year profit-making machine, intends to begin a swift and "radical" review before implementing a rejuvenation plan across the group. He indicated that measures he will look at include reducing the number of days on which some loss-making titles publish, and possibly newspaper closures. "If you have stacks of titles and lots of loss-makers and lots publishing six days a week and not making money you have to look at the portfolio," he said. "I want a step change. It might be harsh but it gives a platform for the future. The key thing is a product portfolio review. We have to look at the number of titles and frequency of publishing." Auckland was keen to stress he is not a hatchet man, and that the review is an essential stage in a transition Northcliffe Media must make. Northcliffe, which employs 2,800 staff, has seen revenues fall 34% from £447m to £294m between 2007 and 2010 and profits plunge from £93m to £30m in the same period. The DMGT chief executive, Martin Morgan, recently admitted that Northcliffe could be sold , saying "we are open to any worthwhile approaches concerning consolidation". "The problem is that it is a large portfolio ... with simply not enough revenue to sustain that," Auckland said. "There has been no conversation about ripping costs out to bump up the figures. I've not got a brief to carve up and sell on. I think regionals still have a future, it is a great brief to have and it's long-term growth I'm after, not a short-term fix." Auckland said his job is not to perform a demolition job on the portfolio, but to be more surgical and to empower the executives and editors under him. "Less is more is my motto: I want a clear vision at each operating centre. I'm trying to do away with the corporate stuff and getting the editors and the managing directors free to do what they want to do in their centres," he added. "Originally regional newspapers were run by entrepreneurial-type people back in the halcyon days. I want to get back to that flexibility. If they want to change the cover price or business cards or say that publishing on one day, or two, or staying at six is most profitable then I want them to have that flexibility." • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".