United News & Media Profits Down 6.9%

United News & Media has released results today, reporting a decrease in pre-tax profits of nearly 7% for the 6 months ending June, to £65.1m.

Lord Stevens, chairman of the group which includes Express Newspapers said that results were held back by re-launch costs in the UK, and that national newspapers were affected by lower circulation revenues. Paper prices rose on average by 10% and paper costs increased by £4m. Ad revenues were however up by 3%, but circulation revenues were 8% below last year.

Regional Newspapers saw an 8% rise in advertising revenues; profits were slightly down on last year however, due to paper costs and development expenditure, which included the relaunch in April of the Yorkshire Evening Post.

With regard to the future, Lord Stevens predicted newsprint prices will have risen by 50% by January 1996; as they make up 12% of total costs additional costs cannot be avoided in this area. The Group will continue to be restructured, particularly in the regional division.