Sport Media Group says ad revenue is “holding steady”
Sport Media Group has managed to turn around its plummeting circulation for the first time in six months and claims its advertising revenue is “holding steady”.
SMG, publisher of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport, said its circulation figures for May are back up to the same levels of last November.
Earlier this year, the publishing firm was forced to resign its Audit Bureau of Circulations membership due to declining sales figures (see Sport Media Group resigns from ABC).
The publisher admitted that a shift in daily circulation of 10,000 hits profitability by around £2 million over the course of a year.
However, in a trading update today, SMG said that advertising revenues have been “holding steady” and are expected to increase over the coming months, according to reports.
“There has been an encouraging uplift in newspaper sales in May and we are currently achieving daily circulation levels last seen in November 2008, averaging in excess of 75,000 copies a day on weekdays,” SMG said. “The weekend titles are also seeing a small uplift.”
SMG plans to continue its focus on generating income in a bid to reduce its £12 million debt – the publisher was recently forced to slash around 25% of staff to save £700,000 a year.
The company said it is currently seeking “non-staff” savings and hopes to renegotiate its printing deal, which it says will have a “materially beneficial impact on profitability”.
In January, SMG announced a £18.2 million pre-tax loss for the year to July 31, after stripping £20.7 million off the value of its assets (see Daily Sport publisher records £18.2m loss).
The publisher was forced to write down the value of Sport Newspapers by around one third due to the ongoing economic downturn.
However, SMG, which acquired the two Sport titles’ publisher Sport Newspapers for £50 million in December 2007, said “the board is optimistic for the future prospects”.
SMG also announced today that David Bailey, non-executive chairman, plans to retire later this year after a replacement is found.
Andrew Fletcher, group finance director, will also step down from the board on July 10.