THE Aberdeen Press and Journal, Scotland’s biggest selling daily broadsheet newspaper, could be sold for £120m within the next few weeks, writes John Penman.

The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is in talks to sell the Scottish arm of its local newspaper division, Northcliffe, just weeks after aborting a £1.3 billion auction of the company. This was scrapped because it failed to realise a high enough price for the entire group.

DMGT is negotiating with Johnston Press, the Edinburgh-based regional newspaper group, and at least one other potential buyer about the sale of the Press and Journal.

The discussions are unlikely to be completed ahead of DMGT’s trading update this Wednesday, at which it is expected to echo rivals’ gloomy analysis of the state of the newspaper advertising market.

Johnston bought The Scotsman late last year from the Barclay brothers in a deal worth £160m. The company, which started life publishing the Falkirk Herald, would add the paper to a stable that also includes the Yorkshire Post.

Newsquest, owner of Glasgow-based The Herald, which also publishes a number of regional and local papers throughout England, is also thought to be in the running for the Press and Journal.

The Aberdeen Journals group publishes the Press and Journal, which sells about 85,000 copies a day, as well as the Aberdeen Evening Express. It was part of the same Thomson newspaper group as The Scotsman until the Barclays bought the Edinburgh title in 1995.