GMG has a portfolio of investments, including an investment fund, a majority share in Auto Trader publisher Trader Media Group and a minority share in business-to-business media group Emap, which provide financial stability for the core business.
Emap reported record Rajar figures with nearly a quarter of all listening to commercial radio, boosted by a strong performance by London's Magic, Kerrang! on FM in the West Midlands, its Big City network, and on digital across the UK through its digital-only stations The Hits and Smash Hits.
It may also establish whether European high-tech shares still have investor appeal.Fraport, operators of Frankfurt airport, Europe's second-largest hub, said that its IPO would value the company at up to euro3.2 billion, well below recent estimates.Kevin Hand resigned as chief executive of Emap, a British media group, after heavy pre-tax losses of £527m ($780m) in the year to the end of March.
Different firms give these roles different weight.Take at one extreme a firm such as EMAP, a British publisher with some 5,000 employees.
THIS week bankers have a perfect excuse to pore over pictures of scantily clad models, fast cars and film stars: Emap, a British media firm that straddles consumer magazines, radio and trade exhibitions, is up for sale, and bids are due by early October.
Even FHM, owned by Emap, a British publisher, which remains the market leader with a circulation of over 700,000, was down by 2%.The disaffection with the men's titles could also be due to the fashion cycle.
Emap, a British publisher, recently gave warning of a 30% decline in recruitment ads in one of its titles, Nursing Times, following the launch of a free website for jobs in Britain's National Health Service.The internet has become the fastest-growing advertising medium.
In six countries in Europe including France and Germany, for instance, an internet-only brand, auFeminin.com, dominates the women's category.Before the credit crunch, observers expected some or all of Emap to go to private equity.
Indeed, various publishers have recently turned their magazines into TV channels: Match TV, launched by Lagardère, a French conglomerate, is based on its magazine, Paris Match; Kerrang! and Smash Hits are music channels based on their namesake magazines owned by EMAP, a British publisher.This may work with some genres, especially ones that are cheap to produce, such as music or pornography.
If Emap closed down all its magazine sites tomorrow, says a publishing executive, the company would make more money.
This plainly hits broadcasters, such as Britain's Carlton and Granada, and France's TF1, and consumer-publishers, such as Primedia and EMAP.
