22nd May 2014 13:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - Daily Mail & General Durst PLC reported an increase in profit and revenue for the full-year, as it announced its intention to sell its job board business Jobsite to European online job board StepStone, an Axel Springer AG business.
The multimedia company, which holds a 56.2% stake in online property search firm Zoopla Property Group, posted pretax profit of GBP113.8 million for the six months ended March 31, up from GBP83.4 million, as revenue rose to GBP931.2 million from GBP866.0 million a year earlier.
On the back of its strong performance the company increased its interim dividend to 6.2 pence from 5.9 pence in the corresponding period.
It said revenue from its business to business division rose 16% to GBP532 million from GBP462 million, while risk management solutions revenue rose 4%.
However, the consumer media division saw revenue fall 12% to GBP399 million from GBP454 million following the disposal of Northcliffe Media in 2012. The consumer division also incorporates Zoopla which Thursday announced its plan to float in London next month.
Daily Mail & General Trust also said its Dmg media arm recorded a 3% fall in revenue to GBP278 million from GBP287 million, due to the disposal of Dmg media's central and eastern European operations during the prior year.
The firm said dmg media suffered from weak advertising revenues in March but this picked up over Easter into May. Compared to the prior year, Dmg media's underlying advertising revenues increased 10% for the seven weeks to May 18, including the benefit from the Easter period, bringing underlying advertising growth for the thirty three weeks year to date to 6%.
At the period end group net debt stood at GBP793 million up from GBP573 million at the end of December.
In a separate note Thursday, the company said its plans to dispose of its job board business Jobsite for an undisclosed fee. Daily Mail said Jobsite has grown since Dmg acquired the business in 2004.
"Following the disposal of OilCareers, Broadbean and Jobrapido in March and April 2014, this transaction will complete dmg media's disposal of Evenbase and exit from the digital recruitment market, enabling Dmg Media to increase its focus on the core Mail businesses," Kevin Beatty, Chief Executive of Dmg Media said in a statement.
Daily Mail shares were quoted up 8.0% at 901.50 pence Thursday afternoon.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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