How much does a failed private-equity takeover cost the average media group these days? About £600,000 if you’re B2B publisher and Press Gazette owner Wilmington Group which told shareholders at its AGM today it lost that much in “transaction costs” after being approached by PE firm HgCapital in July, though no deal was struck. According to some reports, training group BPP was interested soon after – but it, too, came to nothing. Release

For the three months to September 30, underlying revenue was up four percent year on year, in line with company expectations. Wilmington launched a cost-cutting review after its year-end results in June and there have been redundancies on Press Gazette including some compulsory cuts. The restructuring has cost about £700,000.

As a result of weakening conditions Wilmington will sell three of the few magazines it has left: the HPCi business, which includes Soap, Perfumery and Cosmetics, Manufacturing Chemist and Cleanroom Technology, to a management buy-out led by former Wilmington Business Information MD Mike Harrington. The titles were not a core part of the company’s information and training strategy. Earlier this year, Wilmington sold its 50-percent stake in music-information business Muze Europe to Muze’s New York-based parent company for the same reason. Last year it sold a raft of magazines, including FX, Blueprint and What Van? to Progressive Media for about £12 million.

Full disclosure: I worked for Press Gazette until October this year.