Final results land on the mat on Thursday from newspaper and media titan the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (LON:DMGT). At the end of September the group, which owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, posted a pre-close update, which said its full-year outlook remained in line with market expectations but spelled out many of the trading issues it faced.
Facing tough advertising markets
Like its rivals, the group's traditional newspaper publishing business has suffered in the face of tough advertising markets and online competition. Investors will still be keen to see how the land lies in this respect via tomorrow's update. Notably, the group announced it was launching a shake-up of certain businesses in the group and reports spoke of 400 jobs being cut. The firm said revenue at DMG Media dropped 2% in the 11 months to end August as total year-to-date underlying advertising revenue fell 4%. But a 17% rise in digital advertising revenue helped to make up for a 12% decline in print advertising. In the five weeks since August 21, total advertising revenues in the media business dropped by an underlying 10%. The full-year outlook remained in line thanks to a relatively stronger performance in its business information operations.
Broker Numis upbeat on the shares
Broker Numis reckons the company is still most certainly worth buying into. It rates shares a 'buy' up to 970p (current price 760p). It forecasts revenues for the year to come in at £1.89bn, adjusted operating profit of £271mln, an adjusted pre-tax profit of £250mln and adjusted EPS (earnings per share) of 53.8p. The broker assumes a dividend of 22.4p for the year. Analyst Gareth Davies said: "In our view DMGT shares remain stand out value at current levels, despite some recent strength "DMGT remains our key large cap pick and we remain very comfortable with our blended multiples based target of 970p." Davies reckons current trading and outlook commentary into 2017 will be a focus tomorrow, as will any further detail around the reorganisation initiatives. "We await the appointment of a new CFO post the resignation of incumbent CFO Stephen Daintith to join Rolls Royce," he added.
Significant announcements expected -
Finals: Daily Mail and General Trust PLC (LON:DMGT), Grainger PLC (LON:GRI), Greencore Group PLC (LON:GNC), Impax Asset Management PLC (LON:IPX). Premier Asset Management Group PLC (LON:PAM) Interims: Market Tech Holdings (LON:MKT).