Sportsman pulls up after short run
Newspaper relegated from the dailies league after investors decide not to pay another month's wages at the ailing publication. Ninety staff members will now be looking for other employment.
The Sportsman newspaper has been forced to stop the presses after spending
£12m in just over half a year.
UHY Hacker Young are overseeing the liquidation at the sports and betting
publication, which was Britain’s first new paid-for national daily newspaper in
two decades.
Investors decided to cut their losses after a ten-week search to secure
a confirmed backer proved fruitless.
Ninety staff received the news that they no longer had jobs, in light of
existing shareholders being unwilling to bankroll an extra £350,000 to keep the
business afloat for another month while negotiations with a potential investor
continued.
The anonymous backer had requested more time to undertake due diligence but
shareholders were unprepared to grant the last-minute reprieve.
Andrew Andronikou of UHY told the Times: ‘I’m very disappointed. We had a
white knight who was keen to take it forward and it’s possible that we could do
something next week. But for now we’ve ceased to trade.’