Dods buys political publishers from Ashcroft

Two businesses majority-owned by Lord Ashcroft have been snapped up by Dods, the political publisher in which the Conservative peer is also a major shareholder.

Dods, which owns Parliament's weekly magazine The House, has agreed to buy Biteback Media and Holyrood Communications for a total of up to £1.46m.

Biteback publishes the monthly Total Politics magazine, while the Edinburgh-based publisher Holyrood Communications runs conferences as well as the Holyrood magazine, which focuses on politics north of the border. Dods said the acquisition of the latter would enable it "to benefit from the increase in political activity in Scotland over the next two years".

The deal does not include Biteback's book publishing subsidiary.