Profitability up at Daily Mail as digital aids print
The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) said preliminary full-year revenue rose three per cent to £1.8bn, as digital revenues helped to offset fall in print.
DMG Media, its media side which includes Metro and MailOnline, said full-year revenue remained unchanged.
Total advertising revenue was up five per cent, and the group said digital advertising revenue offset the decline from print across its media portfolio.
Revenue growth for MailOnline was up 41 per cent, and it had 185m monthly unique users in September.
MailOnline, one of the most visited news websites in the world, is targeting revenues of £80m this year, as it continues to increase its presence in the US. Advertising revenues rose 41 per cent to £62m in the year ending September.
Stephen Daintith, DMGT’s finance director, said that site was now “very, very close” to generating enough revenues to offset the decline in sales at the Daily Mail print business.
It also provided an update on risk modelling platform RMS(one), which was delayed at the start of this year, and led to a write-down in September. The group announced that it had taken a £45m charge in relation to the delay.
Martin Morgan, chief executive, said: “We took a difficult decision in the year to delay the launch of RMS(one), although we are confident that the new programme of staged releases to a small number of clients during 2015, with availability to a broader client base towards the end of the year, will benefit the business in the long term.”