After a tough year for Britain’s biggest regional publisher, Reach PLC (LSE:RCH), home to the Mirror, Express, Star and more than 100 local titles, including the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo, is starting to see some thaw in the chill wind that has been blowing through print and digital media.
Panmure Liberum’s latest note suggests the business is stabilising. Group revenues were down 2.5% in the third quarter, a marked improvement from the 3.4% fall in the first half.
Digital revenues grew 2.1%, helped by what the broker called “diversified revenues”, areas such as subscriptions, ecommerce and affiliate links, now making up around a third of the total.
Print, still the larger part of the business, fell 3.9% year on year, better than the 4.9% decline in the first half.
Circulation slipped just 2.7%, while advertising was down 13.3%, both slightly better than expected. That may not sound thrilling, but in the world of declining print, slower decline is the new growth.
Panmure keeps its Buy rating and a 231p target price, describing the stock as “deep value”. Shares closed at 64.4p, implying a strikingly low multiple of less than three times earnings and a double-digit dividend yield.
The broker has trimmed near-term digital revenue forecasts, citing weaker traffic from Google, the latest publisher to feel the tremors of artificial intelligence disrupting search referrals.
But management’s focus on video, off-platform audiences and a new subscription pilot could support digital growth from 2026 onwards.
Cost control remains central. Reach has confirmed £20 million of restructuring charges as it refocuses under new plans, but those savings should feed through next year.
Operating profit is expected to hold steady at around £99 million, in line with guidance.
For a company whose history stretches from the Daily Mirror to the Bristol Post, the market may finally be noticing that the old press still has some life left in it.