Ads patchy for Daily Mail, digital growth good
Thursday, 21 September 2006UK newspaper publisher Daily Mail & General Trust said today that its advertising markets were proving patchy for its national titles but that revenue from its business and digital operations was enjoying good growth.
The company, which has substantially diversified by buying dozens of small online and business-to-business companies, said that ad revenue at its Associated Newspapers division was down 2% for the 11 months to August and circulation revenue was up 1.6%.
'Overall, despite the weakness of consumer advertising markets, the launch costs of our new London free newspaper and the impact of the weaker US dollar, we still expect to achieve modest progress for the full financial year compared to last year ', the company said.
Underlying ad revenue from digital operations, excluding recent acquisitions, gained 22% year-on-year. Advertising revenue at its regional publishing division, Northcliffe Newspapers, fell 8% over the same span, with recruitment and car categories suffering 17% drops. Circulation revenue at the regionals was down 0.9% in the 11 months to August.
Daily Mail said it would report exceptional gains of about £180m in its annual results mainly from selling Aberdeen Journals and Study Group. Another exceptional gain of £20m will be posted due to the sale of its remaining shares of Reuters Group.
The publisher of the Daily Mail and Evening Standard newspapers added that because of changes to its adjusted tax charge, its 2006 adjusted earnings per share increased to 18.7 pence from 17.8 pence.
