Specialist magazine publisher Fieldsports Press has acquired four titles in a deal that marks its sixth acquisition in as many years.
Fieldsports has bought Gunmart, Gun Trade World, What Gun? and The Sporting Airgun Handbook from David Hall Publishing, which also owns fishing and woodworking titles.
Selena Barr, co-founder and chief operating officer of Fieldsports Press, said: “These esteemed titles are a perfect fit for our expanding media group. By integrating these renowned brands, both consumer and B2B, we are enhancing our capability to deliver unparalleled engagement for audiences and advertisers across print and digital platforms.”
The publisher said all DHP employees “associated with the brands” will transfer over to its new ownership.
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Gun Trade World, which launched in 2010, becomes the first internationally-distributed title owned by Edinburgh-based Fieldsports which said it has a “commitment to global expansion”.
The publisher claimed Gun Trade World, which has a monthly print edition as well as its online offering, reaches more than 70,000 shooting, tactical and police professionals globally.
Meanwhile monthly magazine and website Gunmart was founded in 1981, and What Gun? and The Sporting Airgun Handbook are both annual buyers’ guides.
Already in 2024 Fieldsports has bought The Countryman’s Weekly (which had in fact become fortnightly), saving it from closure by Emap by merging it with weekly title The Shooting Times and doubling the pagination of the combined product. However it did not keep all staff of The Countryman’s Weekly, making several redundant.
The Shooting Times itself was bought by Fieldsports from Future last year, alongside the monthly Sporting Gun and Youtube channel The Shooting Show.
Fieldsports also bought flyfishing magazine Trout & Salmon from Bauer Media Group in April last year and, in 2022, five more shooting magazine brands from Archant.
Fieldsports was formed by Simon and Selena Barr in 2018 with the acquisition of Fieldsports Journal from Lincolnshire-based specialist publisher BPG Media and they launched Gundog Journal the following year.
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