William Reed, publisher of The Grocer, has strengthened its core market focus by buying Miller Freeman's UK food and retail exhibitions and the monthly magazine, Food Manufacture. The deal was completed in time for Reed to take management control of Food and Drink Expo and the associated Convenience Retailing Show at the NEC. Charles Reed, group managing director, said: "This is an obvious step for us. It takes us towards our strategic objective of providing the complete communication hub in food and drink. The Grocer, and its sister magazine Convenience Store, give us ownership of the leading media in this sector. Now we can couple the journals to the shows to help raise the profile and value of the events for visitors and exhibitors." The acquisition also gives Reed control of Food Manufacture, the leading journal for suppliers which began publishing in 1927, and has a strong recruitment section. "Again there is a really natural fit between Food Manufacture and our own Inside Food and Drink," commented Jerry Gosney, director of publishing at William Reed. "Food Manufacture has a strong technical focus, while Inside Food and Drink, which only began publishing 18 months ago, has quickly won respect for the newsy way it deals with key sector issues." It is planned to merge Inside Food and Drink into Food Manufacture with the May issue. The combined journal will have a controlled circulation of 11,500 plus some 900 subscriptions. William Reed, which also owns the co-located Non Food Fair, had been working with Miller Freeman on the development of the Convenience Retailing Show for much of the past year, using William Reed's considerable market experience to develop show content and build the exhibitor base. "The new challenge for us is to build on the excellent standing of Food and Drink Expo, held at the NEC every two years," said Charles Reed. "By using The Grocer and our new foodservice database we can give the exhibition a bigger profile." Forecourt International, which runs alongside CRS in the alternate year to Food and Drink Expo, is also included in the package, and sits alongside Reed's Forecourt Trader magazine. l See page 18. {{NEWS }}