Model Engineer magazine - gone?

The article seems pretty much up to date as far as the grapevine I am connected to goes. Of course it is MEW as well as ME that is affected by this - will be interesting to see where they end up. It seems pretty certain that they (ME and MEW) will be sold on as a going concern - mostly a matter of who ends up buying them.

Regards, Tony

I wonder if they will honour pre paid subscriptions ?

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

That question had just been drifting through my mind, too..

Tom

An excellent question it is too. However, it would be pretty daft for a purchaser of a title to piss off its dedicated readers by failing to honour existing subs - it would lose them long-term revenue.

Regards, Tony

I hope so, my wife just got me a subscription for Christmas.

affected

Rumours are circulating again about a mangement 'buy in' - but then they also circulated when Argus was in decline

AWEM

If I was working for one of the mags I would be nervous about being bought out by people that may have "managed" to get them into the situation in the first place.

Regards, Tony

Seems strange that what is, on the face of it, a thriving industry cannot support a magazine like this.

Presumably the advertising revenue dried up and that was it.

Or is this a symptom of the reduced spending power of the public coming through?

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

Last November I took out a years subscription to MEW, I've not recieved any issues yet so have been emailing them recently. Their partly automated replies say that my enquiry has been 'Actioned' but they never actually say when the subscription will actually start!

Ian Phillips

I very much doubt whether it is the "special interests" mags that are the problem - from all accounts they actually make money. It is the rest of the group that is the problem.

Regards, Tony

Peter, It is my understanding that certain titles are in themselves viable, ME & MEW being two and hopefully will be rescued.

They really do need to sort out on the management side though. My subscription for MEW ran out and every time I remembered about it and rang thru, I either got no reply or a message saying they only handled subscriptions before 12:30. Needless to say next time I remembered was after 12:30........

Fortunately they posted a notice saying sign up as WH Smith are no longer stocking this mag and since then they have had half a dozen copies each issue.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

In their 2004 annual report Highbury House admit that "We are also in the process of finding buyers for our remaining Lifestyle and Special Interest portfolios" - that's from the chairman's statement published in May 2005. On that basis that they haven't been sold yet I wouldn't rate their chances very highly. Frankly they've faced the fragmentation of their markets (ME and MEW) by online communities about as badly as it could have been done. That doesn't mean that I don't hope they pull through but I won't hold my breath.

As a subscriber as long as they've not gone into receivership your money should be OK. If they do then kiss your money goodbye 'cos the taxman will have it!

Charles

Peter,

On the contrary, the ME's advertising content seems to be quite healthy and the amount of advertising space seems to have increased over the last year or so along with the improvement to the editorial content. However, I don't know whether they might have decreased their rates and are getting about the same money for an increased turnover.

Jim.

Here's hoping they survive! I grew up reading this magazine, and was just about to subscribe again, after a gap of 10 years.

Steve R.

Special

published

wouldn't

Not sure of the legal niceties or nuances but I understood that they were 'under administration' . Not sure where that sits with receivership.

AWEM

I don't believe that is the case right now - the company has simply asked for dealings in its shares to be suspended.

Regards, Tony

Correct - acoording to the papers on 6th January. And asked Ernst and Young to conduct a firesale.

If anybody wanted to buy ME and MEW I'm sure that you'd get a warm welcome!

Charles

Bugger it, got to pay the tax and VAT this month otherwise I might consider it. Could always ask Ower Gert, she's usually good for a bob or two

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

Nahhh.. taxman won't see a penny of it.... it's even worse than that ... the damned accountants will take whatever cash there is to cover their costs of Receivership.