Daily Mail group keeps a rein on costs

Published on Monday 26 July 2010 22:04

NEWSPAPER publisher Daily Mail & General Trust is to maintain a tight control on costs after reporting a modest rise in quarterly sales.

The group said it remained "wary" about the medium-term outlook as it booked revenues of 508 million for the three months to the end of June, up 6 per cent on a year earlier.

Underlying advertising revenues rebounded 13 per cent at DMGT's national newspapers, led by the Daily Mail tabloid.

Advertising sales at Northcliffe Media, the group's regional titles - worst hit by the recession after classified property, recruitment and car ads came under pressure - fell 4 per cent.

Total revenues for the quarter were helped by a 9 per cent underlying increase at the company's business-to-business (B2B) operations, which account for almost half of group sales. DMGT said it would maintain its focus on cost control, as part of which it has shut regional titles and cut jobs.

Chief executive Martin Morgan said: "Trading in the third quarter has continued to reflect the generally positive trends in our international B2B and UK consumer media businesses, although we remain wary about the medium term outlook, particularly in the UK."

DMGT said its net debt had fallen from just over 1 billion in April to 970m.