Free sheets Kellokas and Hyvinkään Kellokas to Sanoma - free sheets to form a new business unit
Sanoma Corporation, the newspaper publishing and printing division of SanomaWSOY Group, will purchase the business operations and publishing rights of the free sheets Kellokas and Hyvinkään Kellokas from the marketing agency Marker Oy. The business will transfer to Sanoma as from the beginning of October.
- These papers go well together with our free sheet chain, which will continue to be complemented. They will strengthen our core business. Our target is a 30% share in the Finnish free sheet market. We will make further business acquisitions and do not exclude the possibility of founding new papers as well, says Mikael Pentikäinen, President of Sanoma Corporation.
- Kellokas is being distributed in a wider area than before, and our operations have developed significantly. To ensure the paper's continuity and development, Sanoma Corporation is the best possible owner, says Erkki Raivisto, Managing Director of Marker Oy and Editor-in-Chief of Kellokas.
The weekly free sheet Kellokas was founded in 1963. It is distributed in the Tuusula, Järvenpää and Kerava area. Hyvinkään Kellokas is being published from the beginning of this year and it is distributed in Hyvinkää. For Kellokas, the circulation is 46,500 copies, and for Hyvinkään Kellokas, 26,500 copies. There will be no change in publication, and the employees will continue under current conditions.
Niko Ruokosuo appointed Managing Director of free sheets
The Kellokas papers will be part of the Sanoma Free Sheets Business Unit, which will include Sanoma Corporation's free sheet operations. Niko Ruokosuo, 42, M.Sc. (Technology), has been appointed Managing Director of the unit and member of Sanoma Management Group as from 1 December 2004. He is currently President of Recycler Classifieds, a subsidiary of Los Angeles Times.
Besides the Kellokas papers, the unit will comprise Uutislehti 100. The free sheets Kaupunkilehti Seiska, coming out in Kouvola, and Lappeenrantalainen, coming out in Lappeenranta, will continue in the organisation of Kymen Lehtimedia (future Sanoma Lehtimedia).