A 6 per cent rise in overall advertising income and tighter operating costs saw Daily Mail & General Trust return to profit last year, with record operating profits from both the Daily Mail and Metro newspapers.
Underlying pre-tax profits surged 23 per cent to £247m when stripped of exceptional costs and impairment charges of £89.7m, helped along by a 46 per cent profits jump at its A&N Media consumer division, where cost cuts and shutting loss-making businesses, including London Lite, helped operating margins jump from 7 per cent to 11 per cent in the year. Digital revenues from its flagship titles stormed ahead, too, up 54 per cent to £12m, after Mail Online increased traffic by 70 per cent to 47m unique users.
Northcliffe's regional revenues remain in decline, though, down 10 per cent to £294m, largely due to recruitment advertising revenue slumping 19 per cent. But cost-cutting meant a 24 per cent rise in its operating profit to £30m, and the group's business-to-business arm is also back on song, with underlying operating profits climbing 15 per cent.
Broker Panmure Gordon is forecasting adjusted pre-tax profit of £280m and EPS of 52.6p in the year to September 2011 (up from 50p in 2010).
DAILY MAIL & GENERAL TRUST (DMGT) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 543p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.07bn*** | |
| TOUCH: | 542-543p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 576p | 402p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.9% | PE RATIO: | 12 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 43p* | NET DEBT: | £862m | |
| Year to 3 Oct | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2.18 | 312 | 60.8 | 13.1 |
| 2007 | 2.24 | 142 | 27.3 | 14.4 |
| 2008 | 2.31 | -68 | nil | 14.7 |
| 2009** | 2.06 | -301 | -57.4 | 14.7 |
| 2010 | 1.97 | 146 | 43.5 | 16.0 |
| % change | -5 | - | - | +9 |
Ex-div: 1 Dec Payment: 11 Feb *Includes intangible assets of £1.1bn, or 291p a share **53-week period ***Reflects both ordinary and non-voting 'A' shares | ||||
