Independent merges offices with Daily Mail

The Independent is set to merge its offices with The Daily Mail in a bid to cut costs.

Under the deal, Independent News and Media (INM) will share back-room office services and will have its own dedicated space at Associated Newspapers' Kensington offices.

INM says that through the move its left-of-centre titles will remain editorially and commercially separate from Associated Nerwspaper, which owns The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard, Metro and London Lite.

The move - which will see the two newspaper groups share IT, switchboard and payroll services - is designed to save INM GBP2m (USD3m) per-year, reports The Times. The deal comes less than two weeks after INM said it is cutting 90 jobs at The Independent and The Independent on Sunday in a bid to save more than GBP10m (USD14.9m).

"This move will transform the prospects of the Independent titles," says INM's CEO Ivan Fallon. "We will have immediate cost savings when we move offices and take maximum advantage of the resources and services offered to us by our partners at Associated to create better and more commercially viable newspapers while staying true to the editorial values we cherish."

INM staff will move from their current Docklands base by the end of January.