Trinity Mirror has stepped up its share buy-back plans in an effort to shore up its weak share price, writes the Financial Times. The £175m repurchase programme is some £35m higher than analysts had expected, but follows a 42% fall in the group's shares from this year's peak.
It was only able to start the buy-back after agreeing with the pensions regulator to put £108m into its pension schemes in order to plug a shortfall.
According to the Daily Telegraph, by reducing the pension find deficit Trinity Mirror "has removed a major obstacle to a demerger or sale of the company." On the other hand, the paper says that "with a market capitalisation of £1bn, Trinity would be a big mouthful for any buyer in the current market."
