Daily Mail owner sees slump in profits as Covid-19 hits sales

(Sharecast News) - Daily Mail and General Trust said operating profit almost halved in the nine months to June as the company felt the full force of the coronavirus pandemic.
The publisher of the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper said adjusted profits plunged by 44% to £63m as the outbreak wiped out growth in the first five months of the year.

Revenue fell 7% to of £934m for the period, while third quarter revenue slumped 23% to £241m, as the national lockdown slammed demand for physical newspapers with the knock on effect of weaker advertising income.

Circulation revenue decreased an underlying 7% over the nine months, including 12% in the third quarter which was affected by the UK lockdown.

"Since March, the impact of Covid-19 has resulted in a pronounced reduction in advertising revenues across both print and digital formats," the company said.

"Growth in online traffic has helped to mitigate the impact on digital but not enough to compensate for the overall reduction in advertising spend."

However, DGMT said its consumer media unit returned to profitability in June, while consumers switched to reading the celebrity-news-driven Mail Online website, which delivered underlying revenue growth of 3% in the nine month period.

"We remain confident in the future growth opportunities at MailOnline, driven by increasing engagement with the direct audience," the company said.

"DMGT's businesses are positioned to respond to market conditions as lockdown restrictions change and each has a plan for the different scenarios that could occur. At this stage, the outlook for the group remains uncertain and suspension of formal guidance continues."