Reed to sell, but is the target price the right one?

A little snippet of news from Times Online sheds some light on the value of magazine titles. Publishing group Reed Elsevier is believed to be offering about £190 million in vendor financing from its own balance sheet in the sale of its trade magazines arm. Further developments are worth watching, particularly if the view is correct that trade magazines, like most of the periodical print sector, are suffering from erosion of advertising revenue, declining sales and a weak economic outlook.