News International to close its News Magazine publishing arm

News International is to close its loss-making magazine publisher News Magazines, just three years after the company was formed.

The Chelsea-based subsidiary was responsible for SkyMag, Sky's subscriber magazine, and Love It!, the women's weekly. It also published the Sunday Times' Travel magazine.

According to reports, staff were informed this week that News Magazines will be closed, however some of its titles will be continued.

The Travel supplement is likely to brought in house, while Love It! is expected to go to a rival publisher.

SkyMag, which boasts the UK's largest circulation at almost 7.5m, may be brought in-house by Sky but could still be outsourced.

It is as yet unclear whether printing of the publications, which is currently handled by Prinovis Liverpool, will be affected by the move.

Staff are likely to follow the magazines wherever they end up, but redundancies are a possibility, reports claim.