Glenda Daniels South Africa’s beleaguered financial press may face further pressure when the London-based Financial Times starts publishing daily here at the beginning of February. The local publication of the pink-papered daily is seen in some quarters as posing a direct challenge to Business Day/Financial Mail (BDFM), paradoxically 50%-owned by the London-based Pearson’s group, which publishes the Financial Times. BDFM’s managing director Allan Greenblo and the Financial Times’s marketing director for Africa and the East, Gill Hart, both confirmed the launch but denied any threat to Business Day. Greenblo said the Financial Times planned a print run of only 2500 copies and that the envisaged cover price, of more than R10, would not make it the direct rival of the local business daily. He said the Financial Times would not carry South African advertising, implying no competition on this front. Greenblo also quashed rumours that the local publishing house Caxton Printers is to print the paper and is in negotiation with Pearson’s for the latter’s stake in BDFM. Speaking from the Financial Times in London, Hart said printing would be done by an overseas company, OC. With an office in Johannesburg, the company offered state-of-the art digital printing. The local paper, which like its London counterpart will be printed on pink with no other colour used, would be a test case for the digital printing press, Hart said. “We were looking for an opportunity to test the new digital system using a laser jet printer and Johannesburg came up as one of the cities to try it in.” Greenblo said it would be smaller than a broadsheet and larger than a tabloid.
Hart said the Financial Times saw the move as complementary to Business Day, rather than as competition. A European edition, it would be sold at R12 a copy. Launching the Financial Times in South Africa would indicate that “by association with the South African market we are expressing commitment to the country as a global player. I’m very excited about this.” She also denied the speculation that Pearson’s wanted to offload its 50% share in BDFM to Caxton. “There is no truth to the rumours. By making this move we are actually indicating we want to get closer to Business Day. The latter’s circulation, more than 40 000 copies, is good,” she said. Other sources in the newspaper business have speculated that the Financial Times’s move expresses a desire to expand its global circulation and dissatisfaction with the low profitability of its South African interests. Both Business Day and the Financial Mail are under financial pressure, and are reducing staff.