The end of last week saw the release of the Audit Bureau of Circulation’s (ABC) latest set of figures. Major magazine publisher Emap saw a mixed set of results, including a good performance from Elle magazine despite a fall overall in the women’s monthly sector (see Women’s Monthly Titles Take Another Tumble), but in the teenage sector the company lost 4.6% of its market share over the year (see Emap’s Hold On Teenage Market Slips). Shares in the company ended down 8p by the close of Friday’s trading, at £11.30.
Emap was the company recently responsible for poaching Scottish Media Group’s (SMG) group finance director Gary Hughes (see Scottish Media Group Loses Finance Director To Emap). Despite predictions of strong growth SMG was the worst media performer last week, dropping 9.5% overall. On Friday shares in the company ended 6½p down at £3.01.
Better performances during last week came from Pearson, which ended up 75p on Friday at £18.30, giving an overall rise of more than 11% over the week. Independent News and Media rose 16% overall during the last week’s trading, despite suffering a drop of 3p on Friday to end £2.42.
The closing prices of media company shares on Friday were:
