FT to relaunch Asian edition in September

The Financial Times is set to relaunch its Asian edition in September and it will be specifically tailored to the Asian continent and will continue to be printed in Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Korea and Singapore.

Ben Hughes, FT director for Continental Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, said Asia is very important to the FT with regard to revenue as well as readership, and hence the new initiative assumes greater significance at this point in time.

Other than the printing tie-up FT has with Gulf News, there has been an editorial syndication arrangement with Mumbai's Business Standard.

FT has editions in Continental Europe, the UK and the U.S. besides the Asian edition.

"Interestingly, two-thirds of the 500,000-strong circulation comes from outside the UK," noted Hughes. He said that globally the media business is going through a tough phase.

"This is not only applicable to print media but the whole gamut of the media business."

"Our advertisement revenue was down by 40 per cent in 2002 compared with the previous year. This should be the same with all newspapers. Since 75 per cent of revenues come from advertising in the newspaper industry, this is very serious," he noted.

This is the heaviest recession the media industry has ever faced, he said.

He said this scenario which has been continuing since the September 11 terrorist attacks is unlikely to improve next year. The newspaper industry is fighting back with strong cost-cutting measures.

The FT is willing to take the tie-up with Gulf News to more meaningful areas. With the relaunch of the Asian edition, the FT's circulation, which currently hovers around 7,500, is expected to rise.

The joint venture with Gulf News which began as a distribution arrangement of the FT weekend edition has gone a long way with the daily FT edition now being printed by Gulf News.

"The greatest advantage for FT from this arrangement is that the newspaper is now distributed in this region on the same day of publication," he added.

The choice of the timing of the FT launch from Dubai is also significant. Dubai is thriving as an international financial centre with developments like the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and others.

Moreover, Dubai is to host the IMF-World Bank annual meetings this year. It is also set to become an international hub for many other sectors such as metals and commodities trading, healthcare and maritime activities.