It appears these titles have been sold by Archant as part of a portfolio of small performing magazines. Archant are owned by Recapital who have carried out an audit of the portfolio and are offloading those titles which are unprofitable or no longer worth continuing with, in which case many of it’s withering weekly and woeful dailies must too be at risk of closure?Pilot is the only UK GA magazine left in newsagents following the withdrawal of Flyer nearly two years ago due to diminishing sales and higher overheads. Both magazines operate in a small niche market where a lot of classified advertising has been lost to free sites such as AFORS.
Specialist publisher Kelsey are due to close the sale on shortly and Pilot will join existing brands are mainly in the automotive, farming, active living, hobbies, and transport markets.
The acquisition, which also includes the brand Your Chickens which was incorporated into Country Smallholding several years ago, is due to complete on 18 February. The Tillergraph is a small free title produced by the Canal Boat team, while UKGA is linked to the Pilot brand.
The UK Press Gazette has the story here.
https://pressgazette.co.uk/archant-s...s-up-for-sale/