The Press Association (PA), the national news agency for the UK and Ireland, has announced the sale of its 50% interest in PA Sporting Life Limited, the company’s joint venture with Trinity Mirror plc. PA Sporting Life Limited has been sold to ukbetting plc, the digital betting operator, for £1 million.

PA Sporting Life Limited addresses two primary activities – online sports content through the Sportinglife.com brand and online betting through the Totalbet.com brand. Sportinglife.com was launched in January 1997 as the UK’s first multi-sports website and it remains the most popular horseracing site in the world. Totalbet.com, which launched in April 1999, is a joint venture between the Tote (who offer pool betting on racecourses) and PA Sporting Life Limited.

The sale of PA Sporting Life Limited represents the final stage in the re-focusing of the Press Association’s activities solely on business-to-business services. It follows the sale of online consumer news service Ananova to Orange in July 2000.

‘We wish to concentrate on our core activity, which is the provision of fast, accurate and impartial news and data to business customers.’ said Paul Potts, Chief Executive and Editor in Chief of The Press Association.

‘The disposal of Sporting Life is part of the strategic review undertaken by the PA board to ensure that the company re-focused around its business-to-business mission. We believe Sporting Life to be a good business but it no longer fits our strategic plan.” he added.

The Press Association maintains an excellent relationship with ukbetting plc and will continue to supply sports information to Sportinglife.com, through its global network of over 750 sports journalists.

For more information please contact:

Press Enquiries
Deborah Levy
The Press Association Ltd
Direct Tel: 020 7963 7511
Mobile: 07977 252186
E-mail: deborah.levy@pa.press.net
www.pa.press.net