Time Inc UK, publisher of NME and Marie Claire, to be put up for sale

The publisher of magazines including Marie Claire, NME, Wallpaper and TV Times is being put up for sale by its American owner.

Time Inc said on Friday it was looking to sell several assets including Time Inc UK after warning that revenue from both sales and advertising had fallen more than expected during the current quarter.

The British division was known as IPC Media before being rebranded in September 2014 as Time Inc UK, three months after the US magazine publisher was spun off from Time Warner.

The IPC brand dated back to 1963, when the International Publishing Corporation was created as a holding company for the Mirror newspaper group and a number of the UK’s biggest magazine publishers.

IPC Magazines was created five years later, with the business bought by Reed International in 1974. The publisher was rebranded IPC Media in 1998, following a management buyout from Reed backed by the venture capital company Cinven. IPC was bought by Time Inc in 2001.

Time Inc, the New York-based publisher of magazines including Sports Illustrated, People and Time, last month announced a plan to cut costs by $400m (£294m).

The company had said in April that it would not put itself up for sale. The assets identified for sale include Time Customer Service and a majority stake in Essence magazine, the company said. Time said the assets being sold account for about $488m or 17% of total revenues for the 12 months to 30 June.

A sale may be announced as early as the fourth quarter, it said.

Time said print and advertising revenue were weak this quarter compared with the forecast issued during its results call for the second quarter. The company, which reported a 17% fall in second quarter print and other advertising revenues, had expected an improvement for the three months to 30 September.

Magazine circulation revenue fell 12% in the quarter to 30 June, while advertising revenue dipped by about 12% as advertisers continued to switch to online platforms.

Time said it expected cost savings and efficiency initiatives to offset the fall in advertising revenues.