Daily Mail & General Trust shares rise more than 3%

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Shares in Daily Mail & General Trust rise more than 3% as news brands return to profit

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter

Published: | Updated:

Shares in Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) rose more than 3 per cent yesterday after the company said its news brands had returned to profit. 

The publisher of the Daily Mail and sister title the Mail on Sunday said advertising revenues had been hit by the pandemic, falling by an underlying 12 per cent in the nine months to June 30, including 45 per cent in the third quarter. 

But it told investors there had been ‘seamless delivery’ of all its products and that the consumer media arm returned to profitability in June. The Mail newspapers have also continued to grow their market shares. 

Front page news: The Mail newspapers have continued to grow their market shares

DMGT closed up 3.3 per cent, or 21p, to 655p. The group, which owns other titles including the i newspaper and Metro, reported an underlying operating loss of £2m for the three months to June 30, compared to a profit of £22m the previous year. 

DMGT said: ‘Since March, the impact of Covid-19 has resulted in a pronounced reduction in both print and digital formats. 

‘Growth in online traffic has helped to mitigate the impact on digital but not enough to compensate for the overall reduction in advertising spend.’ 

The firm said it remained ‘confident in the future growth opportunities at MailOnline’. DMGT said all of its divisions except events had returned to profitability. Events companies have been particularly hit hard by the pandemic.

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