Daily Sport publisher up for sale

SPORT Media, the Manchester-based publisher of the Daily Sport newspaper, is up for sale.

The group today said that it continues to have “constructive discussions” with its bankers and that it remains optimistic that an extension to its facilities will be granted.

It said: “Following a number of unsolicited approaches, the board is exploring all opportunities to sell the business, in part or whole.

“There can be no certainty that any sale of the business will proceed or that an offer will be made for the company or as to the terms on which any such offer might be made.”

At the end of January the company announced its auditors had been unable to prepare its accounts on a going concern basis because it was negotiating its refinancing.

Sport Media announced earlier that month that it had breached one of its banking covenants and had until March 6 to renegotiate its finances.

The announcement to the AIM market, which follows the company’s annual general meeting, means it has now entered an offer period under the rules of the takeover code.

In the year to July 31 2008, losses rose from £5.3m to £18.2m after one-off costs relating to the acquisition of Sport Newspapers.

Sport Newspapers was sold by founder David Sullivan and his partners to Interative World for £50m in August 2007. The reverse takeover saw Sport Newspapers become a public company via a listing on AIM.