DMGT ‘profits expected to grow to £245m’

The Daily Mail & General Trust is likely to reveal an increase in its profits when it publishes preliminary financial results later this week, according to a report.

The improvement is expected to come from increasing ad revenue and improvements in the publishing group’s B2B businesses.

City AM reported this morning that Numis analysts expect DMGT’s pre-tax profits to increase 23 per cent year on year to £245m for the 2009/2010 financial year with group revenue up two per cent to £1.97bn.

The group’s national newspapers – the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday – are also expected to see a small revenue growth while times are expected to remain tough at regional press division Northcliffe.

Johnston Press reported a like-for-like drop of 5.4 per cent in advertising revenue in the 18 weeks to 6 November saying a slump in the recruitment sector had caused revenue to fall below expectations.

Trinity Mirror suffered a slump of 5.4 per cent in adjusted group revenue in the 17 weeks to the end of October as a declining ad yield was exacerbated by a poor September.