In batting order, the six other Centurians are: The Engineer (1856/169); Estates Gazette (1858/167); Optician (1891/134); Machinery (1912/113); Gramophone (1923/102) and Nursery World (1925/100). Farmers Weekly, founded in 1934, has been around for 91 years.

The combined life of these nine brands, including Farmers Weekly, is 1103 years.

With not a penny of outside investment, as just part of our overall strategy as an independent, family-based company, we have pursued a policy of acquiring legacy brands which we can do so at reasonable prices. Of course, it has not always been plain sailing and other companies  will devise different solutions.

There are several reasons for this policy. As a private company we would never have been able to expand so rapidly without a strategy like this. Secondly, legacy brands have been around the block a few times and they have created outstanding goodwill. Of course, they need to be constantly updated and without loving care they will collapse by default.

Pursuing successful legacy acquisitions is just one leg of our drive for success. My old school motto was ‘Et Nova et Vetera’ - both the new and the old. Increasingly, our attention is also on the ‘new’ which means much more focus on organic growth and adapting to the current AI landscape. We are not there yet - and maybe we will never be - but when the ‘new’ and the ‘old’ properly and completely align in the middle, we will have an unbeatable proposition.

Finally, there is an emotional reason for the legacy part of our strategy. Just think of all the work that has gone into these brands over more than 1100 years. Legacy brands have so much to offer, but they are a long time dead.

Personally, I cannot stand the thought of seeing wonderful brands, which have been so much part of our history and culture, wither away and die. This is too painful and it does not have to be like this.