A recovery in advertising revenue contributed led to a 10 per cent rise in operating profit at the Economist Group to £63m, the company announced today.
Turnover at the group, which publishes weekly news magazine The Economist, was up 9 per cent to £347m in the 12 months up to 31 March 2011.
In a statement on its 2011 results the company also announced that since launching in November The Economist iPad and iPhone apps have been downloaded around 2m times. The apps are free to download but readers must subscribe to access most Economist content.
The latest ABC figures for the magazine show that print circulation in the UK was up 11 per cent to 210,204 and worldwide circulation was up 4 per cent to 1,473,939. The company claimed this was driven largely by its “Where do you stand?” poster advertising campaign, which invited readers to send a text message to receive a free sample copy.
Print advertising at the magazine rose 12 per cent and online advertising increased by 25 per cent, the Economist said, while the number of visitors to its website was said to be up 39 per cent.
The Economist performed particularly well in the Asia Pacific region where circulation increased by 6.1 per cent to more than 143,000 and group revenue was up 32 per cent.
Group finance director Chris Stibbs said: ‘The results show further good growth in earnings and cash flow in a year where the group continued to increase its investments in key strategic initiatives.
‘Our financial robustness provides a solid platform for successfully navigating the economic and other challenges faced by our industry.’
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