Daily Mail owner tumbles amid 'volatile' conditions

Shares in newspaper group Daily Mail and General Trust fell heavily on Thursday, despite a move back into profit, as it warned of the challenging conditions in consumer media.

Full-year pre-tax profits were £692m at DMGT, which owns the Daily Mail and Metro newspapers, against a loss 12 months earlier of £112m. Last year the figure was hit by a one-off impairment charge and higher operating costs.

Underlying revenues on were flat at £1.4bn, however, and off 9% on a statutory basis, as the consumer media division weighed on the numbers. DMGT’s business-to-business publishing arm saw underlying revenues increase 3% but they were down 4% in consumer media because of “challenging” conditions.

On an adjusted basis, which excludes exceptional costs and other items, underling operating profits fell 17% to £145m, hit by a weaker US dollar and the exclusion of ZPG, owner of Zoopla, from the figures. DMGT sold its stake in the property portal during the year as it sought to refocus its portfolio.

The Daily Mail is one of Britain’s biggest-selling newspapers, but the entire newspaper profession is suffering as readers and advertisers switch their focus online.

Underlying revenue growth at MailOnline of 5% was offset by a 5% decline in circulation revenues and a 5% fall in print advertising revenues.

Paul Zwillenberg, chief executive, said: “DMGT’s performance during the year was in line with our expectations, despite some challenging trading conditions. Our B2B businesses delivered broad-based underlying growth and consumer media continued to outperform its markets.”

Looking ahead, DMGT said it expected revenues from print advertising to decline with advertising market conditions remaining “volatile”. “Circulation volumes are expected to continue to decline although revenues will benefit from the September 2018 cover price increase of the Monday to Friday editions of the Daily Mail,” it added.

By 10.30am, shares in DMGT were off 10% at 623.5p. That was a partial recovery on earlier falls, which saw the stock touching 611p at the start of the session.