UNM

UBM plc (lse: UBM) is a global live media and business-to-business communications, marketing service and data provider, serving specialist business communities, principally to the technology, healthcare, trade and transport, ingredients and fashion industries. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History
The company was founded in 1918 as United Newspapers by David Lloyd George to acquire the Daily Chronicle and Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. In 1929, the company merged with Provincial Newspapers, an owner of regional papers in the north; the next year, it sold its national papers. The company continued for decades as a regional newspaper publisher, making acquisitions such as Yorkshire Post Newspapers in 1969.

The history of the companies that now make up UBM stretches back almost two hundred years to the Journal of Commerce which was founded and first published by Samuel Morse in 1827. Today, the Journal of Commerce is produced in both print and digital formats by UBM Global Trade. UBM businesses still publish many other titles that were launched in the 19th century, including Building magazine, launched in 1843 by Joseph Hansom, as well as Chemist & Druggist.

It acquired PR Newswire in 1982. In 1985 it bought Express Newspapers and continued to publish the Daily Express for some 15 years. It changed its name to United News & Media in 1995, sold its regional papers in 1998, and bought CMP Media in 1999 for $920 million. In 2000, it sold the Daily Express to Richard Desmond and adopted the name of United Business Media. It went on to acquire Commonwealth Business Media for $152 million in 2006.

Television interest
MAI was part of a consortium which bid for the ITV south and south east area, which formed Meridian Broadcasting in 1991. MAI began to expand following the successful launch of Meridian: in 1994 the company bought Anglia Television, the ITV franchise for the east of England, and the following year became a major shareholder in the consortium that won the franchise for Channel 5. In 1996, MAI merged with United Newspapers (via an agreed takeover by United) to form United News and Media (UNM). The resulting company owned the Daily Express newspaper, Meridian, Anglia, and a large shareholding (through the Yorkshire Post) in Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television, the owners of Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television. The stake in Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television was sold to [Granada plc, allowing them to take control of the two franchises in 1997. United News and Media later agreed to buy Scottish Television's 20% stake in HTV and on 28 June 1997, HTV was taken over fully by UNM for £370 million.

In 1999, plans emerged of a merger between UNM and rival Carlton, however these talks failed when it appeared that Meridian would have to be sold off as a condition of the deal. As a result, the television assets of UNM were sold to Granada plc, however due to regulations stating that the company could not control that large an audience share, the broadcasting arm of HTV was sold to Carlton in exchange for Central's 20% stake in Meridian.

In 2000, its television interests, were sold to Granada plc. Granada acquired Meridian Broadcasting and Anglia Television; but were forced to sell the HTV broadcasting business (to Carlton) for competition reasons, though it held onto HTV's network production business.

Later operations
In 2005 UBM re-focused on two principal businesses: PR Newswire, a global news distribution business; and CMP, an international events, print and online publishing business. It disposed of NOP which was acquired by  GFK for £383 million in 2005. In September 2006, NewBay Media acquired CMP Entertainment Media from United Business Media

On 1 July 2008, as part of a reorganisation of the corporate structure of the Group, United Business Media Limited (UBML) was created as a new holding company and parent company of the Group. UBML is UK-listed and incorporated in Jersey. In 2010 the principal holding company of the United Business Media group (the “Group”) was organised in to five operating segments: Events, TD & M, Data Services, Online and Print.

In September 2010, Canon Communications announced that it had agreed to be acquired by UBM. In May 2011, United Business Media officially changed its name to UBM plc.

Operations
The Company distributes news and information and also offers media products to customers. Its businesses are UBM Channel, RISI, PR Newswire, UBM Asia, UBM Aviation, UBM Built Environment, UBM Canon, UBM Conferences, UBM Connect, UBM Electronics, UBM Global Trade, UBM Live, UBM Medica, UBM Awards, UBM Studios, UBM TechInsights, and UBM TechWeb. It also included CMP Information (CMPi) which was split into five separate businesses in 2008. It is also a major shareholder of ITN and Press Association.

The Company's media properties include:


 * 4G World
 * Barbour ABI
 * Barbour Product Search
 * Black Hat Briefings
 * Building
 * Building Design
 * Business4Better
 * CRN Magazine
 * Datasheets.com
 * Dr Dobbs Journal
 * EDN
 * EE Times
 * Farmers Guardian
 * Game Developers Conference, Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra
 * Information Week]]
 * Internet Evolution


 * Interop
 * Medical Devices & Diagnostics Industry
 * Official Airline Guide]]
 * Official Guide of the Railways
 * Packaging Digest
 * PharmaLive
 * Physicians Practice
 * PlasticsToday
 * Property Week
 * Psychiatric Times
 * Pulse (magazine)
 * Qmed
 * Test & Measurement World
 * The BrainYard
 * The Journal of Commerce
 * Travel Trade Gazette

Its main competitors are International Data Group, Reed Elsevier and Nielsen.