Founded 2003 | Parent organization Johnston Press | |
Derry Journal Newspapers (formerly Local Press Ltd) is a holding company of Johnston Press that operates several local newspapers in Northern Ireland. Its key titles include the second oldest newspaper still in existence in Ireland, the Derry Journal. The company also publishes the Sunday Journal/Donegal on Sunday the only local newspaper in Ireland to be published on a Sunday. The company is based on the corner of Pannyburn Pass and Duncreggan Road, Derry.
Contents
Owners
The company's founding paper was the Derry Journal which was launched in 1772, and remained its sole possession until the 1990s. In 1998, the group was purchased by Mirror Group Newspapers (which became Trinity Mirror a year later) from the McCaroll family who had owned the paper since 1925, for £18.25 million.
In January 2004 Local Press Ltd, a holding company of investment firm 3i purchased the Derry Journal Group as well as the News Letter, a leading Northern Irish daily, from Trinity Mirror. Local Press was then purchased by Johston Press a year later in November 2005 for a reported £65m.
In addition to Derry Journal Newspapers, Johnston Press own several other local titles across Northern Ireland through the holding company Johnston Publishing (NI). Johnson Press' Republic titles were sold in 2014.
Expansion
In the 1990s, the Derry Journal began to expand its stable of papers with the launch of the freesheet Journal Extra in 1992 (City News from February 2001) and in 1995 acquired the Donegal People’s Press and the Donegal Democrat, the biggest paper in neighbouring County Donegal.
In October 2000 a second freesheet was launched in Letterkenny, County Donegal called the Letterkenny Listener (renamed Letterkenny People in September 2005) and a third was launched in May 2001 called Foyle News . In 2004, several new papers were launced, with the Sunday Journal incorporating Donegal on Sunday and as well as Monday edition of the Journal called Derry on Monday. The papers has different levels of success, the Sunday publication was and continues to be the only local paper published on a Sunday; however Derry on Monday was axed just two years later due to poor circulation figures and was replaced by an expanded City News.
Current titles
Group circulation
In the first half of 2007, the combined audited circulation of Derry Journal Newspapers was 74,316.