Shares in Reach (RCH) rose more than a tenth on the news that management is confident of the newspaper publisher’s performance “marginally” beating market expectations for 2018. The company noted that consensus forecasts for adjusted pre-tax profits ranged between £132.2m and £133.9m.
In the fourth quarter, total revenues rose 23 per cent, buoyed by Reach’s acquisition of Express & Star. Meanwhile, like-for-like group revenues are expected to fall 5 per cent in the respective three months, which is an improvement on the third quarter.
Bosses also now anticipate cost savings of £3m from the integration of Express and Star, versus a previous estimate of £2m. And the disposal of two vacant properties in Liverpool and Cardiff brought in £5m, helping net debt to fall to around £55m at the year-end against £81m at the half-year stage.
