Falling ad sales will harm Daily Mail results

Daily Mail & General Trust has warned that its full year results will suffer from falling ad revenue at its national and regional newspapers. The news comes despite a 2% rise in underlying revenue for the 11 months to the end of August.

Daily Mail & General Trust has warned that its full year results will suffer from falling ad revenue at its national and regional newspapers. The news comes despite a 2% rise in underlying revenue for the 11 months to the end of August.

In a trading update ahead of its results, it says it has seen a 3% decline in July and August across its national and regional divisions.

Northcliffe Media, its regional newspaper group, saw a 5% decline in revenue compared to the same period last year. Ad revenue was down by 9% overall but fell by 22% in July and August and 24% in September.

Associated Newspapers, including The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, recorded only 1% increase in revenue for the period to the end of August, with ad revenue up by 0.4% overall. Ad revenue for July and August fell by 3% with classified advertising down by 15% and display was down by 9%. The latter was driven by a fall in ads from retail and leisure operator.

Meanwhile, DMGT’s business-to-business revenues for the same period rose by 8% year on year, and its digital revenue grew by 46% over the 11 months. Online recruitment ads rose by 27% and now accounts for 67% of all digital revenue.

DMGT chairman Viscount Rothermere says: “The worsening economic conditions are having an impact on our newspaper and property businesses but the B2B divisions have continued to perform well.”