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The Economist continues to defy declines elsewhere in the magazine industry, announcing a 10 per cent increase in operating profit to £63.3 million, with turnover up 9 per cent to £347 million.

The profit hike was accompanied by an increase in circulation, which rose 4 per cent year-on-year in the last six months of 2010 to 1,473,939. UK sales were up by 11 per cent to 210,204 for the period, against a 4 per cent average, breaking the 200,000 sales mark in the UK for the first time in the magazine's 167-year history.

Advertising revenue also performed well, with a 14 per cent increase in print ad revenue and a 23 per cent increase in digital ad revenue contributing to an overall increase of 15 per cent.

The group also saw a strong performance in digital, with today's report confirming last week's announcement that the number of iPhone and iPad app downloads is close to 2 million.

According to last week's figures

, around 650,000 people are regularly accessing content through the iPhone and iPad apps, which were launched in November last year , and 20 per cent of those with print subscriptions are regularly accessing content via the apps.

Traffic to the Economist website was also up, with a 30 per cent year-on-year increase in average monthly unique users over the second half of 2010.

Chairman Rupert Pennant-Rea attributed the group's successful year to three key areas: an advertising recovery at the Economist; a full year's ownership of Congressional Quarterly Ic. a business purchased from the Times Publishing Company in August 2009 ; and tight control of overheads.

Editor-in-chief John Micklethwait said that it had been "a strange year for news" due to the events of the Arab uprisings, and singled out the magazine's July 2010 cover on the shifting sands around the West’s Arab allies as a "prophetic" highlight.

Micklethwait also announced that the group's cultural magazine Intelligent Life, which has been a quarterly title since its launch in September 2007, will be published every two months from autumn 2011.

The Financial Times Ltd. own 50 per cent of the Economist Group , with the remaining stake owned by individual shareholders including the Cadbury, Rothschild, and Schroder familes, as well as a number of staff and former staff shareholders.

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Written by
Joel Gunter

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