View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Media Business
October 3, 2016

£150m wiped off the value of Telegraph titles in holding company’s annual accounts

By Dominic Ponsford

The company which owns the Telegraph titles has written down their value by £149.9m.

This means that Press Acquisitions Ltd  made a loss of £131.3m for 2015.

However, at an operating level it made a profit of £51.9m for the 53 weeks to 3 January versus £54.4m for the 52 weeks audited in 2014.

Turnover in 2015 was £327.5m over 53 weeks versus £323.4m over 52 weeks in 2014.

The document reveals that there was a slight increase in editorial and production staff at the Telegraph titles from 662 in 2014 to 664 in 2015.

This suggests that successive waves of editorial redundancies have been offset by new hires.

Some 55 editorial redundanices were announced in October 2014 and 80 job cuts were revealed in March 2013.

Content from our partners
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it
Impress: Regulation, arbitration and complaints resolution

The results document notes that the Telegraph’s business model is challenged by declining print audience and the move from desktop to mobile media consumption.

It says: “To mitigate this risk, the Telegraph has set out a strategy and plan to diversity its business and reduce its reliance on print by developing its digital operations and extending its portfolio of market-leading products and services offered to costomers.”

The company made charitable donations of £3,013,750 in 2015: £13,750 of this went to newspaper charities, £2m went to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and £1m to the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre charity.

The accounts for the Telegraph’s holding company (owned by the billionaire Barclay twins) differ slightly from those for Telegraph Media Group, which were given out in a press release on 3 September.

Telegraph Media Group reported an operating profit of £48.3m for the 52 weeks to 28 December on turnover of £320.1m.

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network