Trinity Mirror in rebrand to Reach after £127m Express buy

Trinity Mirror unveiled a name change and a jump in the pay of chief executive Simon Fox on Monday, as it prepares for its merger with the Daily Express group.

Fox’s pay jumped from £749,000 to £893,000, a result he put down to a long-term incentive plan maturing. “My salary went up by the same as everyone else’s,” he claimed.

Trinity, which announced a £127 million deal to buy the Daily Express, Daily Star and OK! Magazine from Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell last month, today said it will change its corporate name to Reach.

Fox said the name change, which will cost tens of thousands of pounds, is “out of respect for our new colleagues”.

He admitted some would groan at it, but added: “Through our content we reach millions of people every day. Our reach extends across multiple platforms in both print and digital and across the cities and communities we serve. We think this is a name which better reflects what we do and what our ambitions are.”

Revenue for the year to December fell £90 million to £623 million. Profit slipped £11 million to £122.5 million.

Fox said that given the difficulties facing the newspaper trade “none of this is a surprise”.

The figures were a bit better than the City was expecting, sending the shares up 2% to 77p.

Trinity can’t begin its integration of the Express titles until the Competition and Markets Authority has given its approval. This is likely to take at least three months.

Fox said he “remains very confident” there won’t be any competition problems.

Trinity recently renewed its lease on its home in Canary Wharf for 10 years.