Menzies in €3.6m Irish buy

Menzies Distribution, which is in the process of taking over DX Group, has taken full control of EM News Distribution, the Irish news and magazine wholesaler, in a deal worth €3.6m.

Menzies will increase its existing 50 per cent interest in the company to 100 per cent, buying out the remaining 50 per cent share currently held by Irish retailer Eason.

The move is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Menzies which includes distributors AJG Parcels, Thistle Couriers and Oban Express.

Menzies Parcels now delivers more than 3 million items annually.

Finance director Paul McCourt said: “Taking full control of EM News Distribution gives us the opportunity to bring our full expertise to bear on serving the news trade sector across Ireland. It also provides us with a similar platform to explore new logistics services in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, similar to the approach we have been taking across Scotland, England and Wales.”

* IN a trading statement earlier this month John Menzies plc, the parent company of Menzies Distribution, said the proposed deal to combine Menzies Distribution with DX continued to move forward positively and was expected to be completed this summer.

“I am confident we will be able to deliver on a deal to combine the businesses of DX (Group) plc and Menzies Distribution,” said chairman Dermot Smurfit.

However, Gatemore Capital Management, the activist DX investor that wants to block the deal, has now increased its state in DX to 21 per cent. It argues that Menzies Distribution’s core business of newspaper distribution is low margin and declining – making it unattractive to DX investors.