Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) has announced an increase of 7% in adjusted profit before tax, reaching £114.5 million, despite some of its businesses facing tough trading conditions.
In the group’s interim results for the first half of the year ending 3rd April, advertising revenues for Associated Newspapers increased by 2.5%, with display advertising across the group increasing by 5.4%.
By title, display advertising in the company’s Metro newspaper grew by 23%, the Evening Standard by 6%, the Mail on Sunday by 3.2% and the Daily Mail by 3%.
Following the introduction of increased colour and pagination at the end of November, there was a marked increase in the migration of advertising from mono to colour, resulting in colour revenues in those four months being up 20% year on year with no reduction in yield (see Colour Fuels Increase In Advertising Revenues For DMGT).
Operating profit for the group was down by 2%, to £101.6 million, from £103.9 million in 2004, while profit before tax rose by 2% to £77.1 million, compared to £75.3 million in the same period last year.
The group’s regional newspaper firm, Northcliffe Newspapers, increased its operating profit by £0.1 million to £46.7 million on turnover which was unchanged at £257 million. Elsewhere, DMG Information publishing increased its operating profit by £5.7 million to £16 million on revenues up 12% to £122 million.
The company’s broadcasting arm also saw operating profit fall by £7 million to £1.3 million on turnover down 23% to £46 million.
The board remains confident of a satisfactory outcome for the full year, with DMGT predicting that its titles will grow and perform well. This, combined with the publisher’s greater colour printing capacity, should enable them to outperform their peers, the company said.
The group’s non-newspaper businesses, operating primarily outside of the UK, are continuing to grow and perform well, currently making up around 40% of DMGT’s total operating profit, a share that is expected to increase in the next twelve months.
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