City File: Good at running newspapers

The Daily Mail & General Trust may be good at running newspapers, but its record with other media investments is becoming an embarrassment. It had 19.1 per cent of Trilion, the TV services group, and 5.4 per cent of Crown Communications, the LBC radio company. But despite the presence of DMGT's Robert Gilbert on both their boards, the companies are now in receivership.

It narrowly avoided buying into TVS just before it lost its ITV franchise. In that battle, it backed Merlin's unsuccessful bid against HTV but received consolation with Westcountry's victory over TSW.

Now DMGT finds itself with a new headache. It bought 5 per cent of SelecTV just before the boardroom row that led to the ousting of chairman Michael Buckley. Seems like bad luck follows it around.