Daily Mail to make deeper staff cuts

Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) said full year results are anticipated to be in line with current market expectations as it plans to make deeper staff cuts.

The company said it was applying deeper cuts, including reducing staff headcount and carry out a strategic review of its portfolio of businesses.

DMTG incurred a one-off £50m operating cost in the year, rather than the £15m previously said in May 2016, as it reorganised the company by reducing staff. About £35m of the expected costs directly relate to the reorganisation.

The company said: “Given the challenging market conditions facing certain businesses within the portfolio, reorganisation initiatives are being implemented to protect their profitability. These initiatives will create a greater strategic focus and enable more effective decision making across the group, with the aim of generating future benefits and opportunities for long-term growth.”

In a trading update for the 11 months ended 31 August, revenue grew 4%, compared to previous year, and revenue growth from the business to business division rose 2%.

Reported revenues benefited from the weaker pound against to the dollar as the majority of operating profits are earned outside the UK.

Revenue for DMGT’s subsidiary DMG Media, which publishes the Daily Mail newspaper and MailOnline website, fell 2% due to a 12% fall in UK print advertising demand, which was partly offset by a 17% rise in digital advertising growth and a cover price increases of the paper.

DMG Media sold Wowcher, in November 2015, which had an adverse impact on revenue.

MailOnline's advertising revenues increased by 18%, partly offsetting a decline of 13% at the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, and advertising revenues across the Mail businesses as a whole, for print and digital combined, were down 3%.

During the period, 70%-owned publisher and events organiser Euromoney Institutional Investor, which DMGT owns, bought FastMarkets in the first quarter, which also said that it was trading in line with expectations as it also faced challenging conditions due to the “volatile financial markets”.

The net debt to EBITDA ratio is expected to be below 2.0 at the end of the current financial year.