November 22, 2012

Mail Online promises further global expansion as revenue rises to £28m

Mail Online has announced plans to expand its global operations after reporting a 74 per cent spike in revenue over the last financial year.

Figures released by owners Daily Mail & General Trust this morning reveal that digital revenue at Associated Newspapers, which also publishes the Metro and Mail titles, was up 72 per cent to £31m.

Mail Online, which saw revenue rise to £28m in the year to 30 September, announced that following the launch of an Indian version of the site this year, 2013 will see “increased investment in expanding the New York and Los Angeles editorial bureaus, as well as the teams of UK and US video editors”.

This will be accompanied by a “significant investment in technology”.

Cover price hikes and digital growth helped Associated Newspapers report a 2 per cent increase in operating profit to £78m, though revenue was down 2 per cent from £862m to £848m.

DMGT said the revenue drop was down to “the impact of sold businesses, lower display revenues from the two Mail titles, and the cessation of certain low margin printing contracts, principally the Evening Standard”.

Circulation revenue on DMGT’s UK titles increased by 3 per cent to £353m thanks to cover price increases and the end of temporary price discounting by The Mail on Sunday last year following the closure of the News of the World.

Daily Mail circulation revenue increased by 4.4 per cent while The Mail on Sunday fell by 0.8 per cent overall (though they increased by 0.6 per cent after adjusting for there being one less edition this year).

Advertising revenues were down 2 per cent to £332m with a strong performance by MailOnline and Metro offset by lower display revenues at both Mail print titles.

Metro overall revenue was up 8 per cent to £89m “with a particularly strong performance during the Olympics”, when it published weekend editions for the first time.

Group revenue at DMGT was up 1 per cent to £1.96bn, with pre-tax profits up 64 per cent to £206.3m.

Net debt was reduced by £106m to £613m.