A STRONG performance by its business-to-business arm has offset revenue and advertising declines at Daily Mail & General Trust’s (DMGT) consumer operation, home to national titles the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
DMGT said yesterday that the business-to-business division grew underlying revenues 8 per cent in its first financial trading quarter to 30 December.
That performance was the main driver behind DMGT’s group revenues rising 3 per cent to £503 million compared to the same quarter of 2011.
By contrast, underlying revenues at DMG Media, the group’s consumer arm, fell 4 per cent, and advertising slipped 1 per cent. However, the company said strong digital growth compensated for substantial falls in print advertising.
The group also runs business events and has a 68 per cent stake in Euromoney, the magazine publisher, with revenues in those activities rising 14 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.
MailOnline, the Daily Mail’s companion website, was visited by a record 127 million browsers last month. It became the world’s most visited online newspaper in 2012.
DMGT sold its regional titles for £52.5m in January after years of falling advertising revenue and declining circulation. The group recently increased the price of its weekday editions of the Daily Mail by 5p to 60p.
