According to Daily Mail and General Trust’s (DMGT) trading update, ahead of its half-year end on 3 April, 2005 has seen a marked increase in the migration of advertising from mono to colour, resulting in a 2.3% growth in colour advertising revenues.
The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday achieved solid circulation performances, with The Mail on Sunday’s six-month ABC average circulation up 1.8% against a market decline of 2.7%. The paid for circulation of the Evening Standard fell by 10% year on year, but since the launch of the Standard Lite in December, the last two months have shown an aggregate of the combined editions at 4% higher than the number of copies sold last year.
Display advertising revenue, adjusted for the one week’s less trading this half-year, has increased by 6.5% for the five months to February 2005. Retail has remained strong and travel has shown good growth. The finance and motors sectors, however, have both seen advertising revenue decline.
The Metro has seen display advertising rise by 28% over the same period, while the Evening Standard has enjoyed a growth of 9%, with the Daily Mail up 2.6% and The Mail on Sunday up 4.8% like for like. Classified advertising revenues were up by 14% to the end of February, but down by 2% on a comparable basis.
Elsewhere, DMGT’s regional newspaper publisher, Northcliffe, continued to perform well with circulation revenues 3.8% ahead of the same period last year. ABC figures for July to December 2004 show a drop of 3.9% on its titles although the performance of the evening titles continues to be better than the regional newspaper industry average.
A statement from the company said: “The group’s businesses remain in good shape. As regards the full financial year, we continue to expect a satisfactory result, with good organic growth and a useful contribution from recent acquisitions.”
Earlier this year the broadcasting division of DMGT, announced the sale of Arts and Entertainment Programming Limited (A&E) to broadcasting and cable TV company, Eiacom plc, for £365,000 in cash (see DMG Broadcasting To Sell Arts and Entertainment Programming Limited).
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