Restructuring costs and pressure on print advertising hit profits at The Times last year and kept The Sun firmly in the red.
Turnover for Times Newspapers Ltd fell by £1m to £342m for the year to 3 July 2016 and the titles made an adjusted operating profit of £11.2m (down from £19m in 2015). When restructuring expenses of £13.8m are included, Times Newspapers made an operating loss of £2.6m (down from a profit of £11.2m).
The Sun sits within News Group Newspapers Ltd. It reported an adjusted operating loss of £48m (compared with £71m a year earlier).
With restructuring costs of £15m, News Group made a total operating loss of £63m (down from £79m).
The redundancy costs which hit the bottom line of The Times and Sun titles were largely on the corporate, rather than editorial, side of the business. Editorial headcount at The Times and Sunday Times grew to 478 from 459 in the previous year.
The Times grew its print circulation by 5 per cent in the year helped by more free copies distributed through “premium channels” such as British Airways. The Sunday Times print circulation fell 3 per cent.
Digital subscriptions for The Times and Sunday Times increased to 182,000.
Turnover for The Sun titles fell by £11m year on year from £457m in 2015 to £446m, hit by falling print circulation (down 8 per cent year on year Monday to Saturday) and faster falling print advertising revenue.
Overall, the fallout from the News of the World hacking scandal cost the company £30m in the year to 3 July 2016 (down from £72m in the previous financial year). This total includes £5.2m in legal fees and damages to claimants, £13.1m of defence legal fees, £4.5m in redundancy payouts and £6m in fees relating to the Management and Standards Committee.
Sales and marketing costs increased by £21m to £76m as the publisher invested in the launch of its Sun Bets gambling website.
Picture: Reuters
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