Lagardère Active Media assumes greater control of Version Femina

Lagardère Active Media is taking full control of SPF, the company that publishes Version Femina

Pushing forward its magazine supplements strategy, Lagardère Active Media is taking full control of SPF, the company that publishes Version Femina, which will now be headed by a Lagardère Active Media-appointed manager.

Signed with Socpresse, the agreement was submitted for approval by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Protection and Fraud Control (DGCCRF).

Version Femina is a weekly supplement published for the regional daily press, which was born in 2002 through a merger between the Femina Hebdo (launched in 1996 by HFM) and Version Femme (launched by Socpresse in 1999).

The supplement is edited by SPF, in which HFM and Socpresse each hold a 50% share. Lagardère Active Media will eventually take over the 50% share of Socpresse.

With 4 million copies distributed weekly, Version Femina is currently associated with Le Journal du Dimanche, as well as 36 regional dailies, including Sud Ouest, Nice Matin, La Provence, Le Progrès and Le Dauphiné Libéré. And with a readership of 10,259,000 (Source AEPM 2006), Version Femina is the nation’s second favourite newspaper supplement.

According to Didier Quillot, Chairman of Lagardère Active Media, “This new agreement with Socpresse gives us a lead in the magazine publishing market, as Version Femina is the top women’s weekly in Europe.”

For Philippe Zagdoun, managing director for regional daily press and its supplements: “Our supplements division, which brings you both Version Femina and TV Hebdo, has really benefited from the changes brought about by our partnership with Socpresse”.