DMGT sees jump in market share as its CFO stands down
DAILY Mail & General Trust (DMGT) received a welcome boost from its flagship Daily Mail newspaper yesterday, which reported robust trading amid a gain in market share.
DMGT said that advertising revenues at its national newspaper division have risen by 13 per cent year-on-year in the past three months. Print revenues at Associated Newspapers, home to the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, are up 10 per cent thanks to the rise in display ads. For the year to the end of August underlying, or like-for-like, revenues at Associated Newspapers were up three per cent with circulation revenues two per cent down year-on-year. Total underlying ad revenues were up six per cent for the period.
The company’s regional arm Northcliffe Media, which owns more than 100 papers, reported that total revenues fell six per cent for the 11 months to the end of August.
Chief executive Martin Morgan was cautious despite the positive update. He said: “We’ve really got to see a pickup in demand for jobs before we’re really on solid ground again.”
DMGT said it expects to report exceptional gains of about £60m in its full-year results for the year to 3 October. On average, analysts expect DMGT to report pre-tax profits of £240m for 2010.
The firm also announced its stalwart finance director Peter Williams will step down in March. Williams has been with DMGT since 1982 and has held the position since 1991. He will be replaced by Dow Jones chief financial officer Stephen Daintith.
STEPHEN DAINTITH
DMGT
DAILY Mail & General Trust’s long-standing finance director Peter Williams will retire after 19 years in the job. He will be replaced by Dow Jones’s chief financial officer Stephen Daintith in March.
Daintith, 46, has a wealth of experience in the field. He has been with news agency Dow Jones for two years, serving in the firm’s New York office from April 2008.
In January he was also appointed chief operating officer of the firm, whilst remaining as chief financial officer.
At the firm he was responsible for the company’s finance functions, including business unit finance, corporate accounting, general accounting, credit, internal audit and tax as well as corporate technology and general services.
Before Dow Jones, Daintith was chief financial officer of News International, joining the British newspaper arm of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp in 2005.
Before that, he was with British American Tobacco where he held several executive positions since joining in 1996. He was the managing director of the company’s Swiss unit in 2004 after two years as managing director in Bangladesh. He also served as a finance director in Pakistan from 2000, and prior to this in South Africa as a finance director and strategic planning and business development manager.
He led internal audits at Forte after graduating from Leeds University as an accountant and working for PriceWaterhouse.