Daily Mail and General Trust plc (LON:DMGT) reported a halving of annual profits as its newspapers, events and UK property information businesses were hit by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Revenue at the Consumer Media arm fell 13%, with the Daily Mail and Sunday version down 12% in the 12 months to end-September 2020, though MailOnline grew 3%, while the free newspaper Metro and ‘The i’ paper declined 40% and 10% respectively.
While events and exhibitions revenue tumbled 33% and property information by 16%, offset by stronger performances by insurance risk, educational technology and the US property information arm, group revenue was down 14% to £1.2bn.
Profit before tax fell 50% to £145mln as further planned investment was made in B2B businesses, most notably insurance risk and property information.
A final dividend of 16.6p per share means the full-year dividend is increased 1% to 24.1p.
Looking to the new financial year, directors said the financial performance is “expected to reflect varying levels of impact from the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic consequences”, with insurance risk, US property information and edtech businesses are felt to be “well positioned to deliver continued revenue growth”.
“The outlook for UK property information and consumer media remains difficult to predict, whilst for events and exhibitions, conditions remain particularly challenging.
“We will continue to invest in our portfolio, to deliver returns consistent with our disciplined approach, and this will impact margins as we build our businesses for the long-term.”
The shares were up 1% to 689p in early trading on Monday.