Northcliffe Media

Northcliffe: cut costs by 13 per cent in the past year


Regional newspaper publisher Northcliffe Media has reported a further six per cent year-on-year decline in like-for-like revenue over the past six months.

Parent company Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) said in a trading update today that although circulation revenues at Northcliffe are up two per cent on an underlying basis, advertising has fallen by seven per cent year on year in the six months to the end of March.

The regional publisher has cut costs by 13 per cent. Across A&N Media, which includes Northcliffe and the national newspaper arm Associated, 593 jobs have been shed in the past year, a net reduction of nine per cent, bringing headcount to 6,280.

Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Mail titles and Metro, saw revenue over the past six months decline by one per cent year on year, again on a like-for-like basis.

However, it reported an increase in circulation revenues, up four per cent, helped by cover price rises. Advertising revenue from Mail Online was up 69 per cent year on year.

Across the whole of DMGT, there was a slight improvement in like-for-like revenue in the past six months, helped by the group's business-to-business division.

B2B activities reported an eight per cent year-on-year rise in like-for-like underlying revenue for the six months to the end of March. Revenue at Euromoney was up five per cent over the same period, also on an underlying basis.

DMG Information and the group's events business both reported a 12 per cent like-for-like revenue rise over the six months.

DMGT is due to publish its half-year results on 24 May. They are expected to include exceptional reorganisation costs of about £20 million at its consumer publishing division.

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