Pre-Close Trading Update

24 September 2015

Daily Mail and General Trust plc ('DMGT')

Pre-Close Trading Update

Ahead of the year end on 30 September 2015, this statement provides an update on the Group's progress in the current year. It covers the eleven month period to the end of August 2015 and includes comments on September where practicable.

Trading in line with expectations; Group outlook for the year reconfirmed

· Stable Group underlying# revenue performance

· Solid revenue growth from B2B businesses, up 2% underlying#

· Underlying# revenue decline of 3% from dmg media due to weak print advertising revenues and declining circulation volumes

· Continued active portfolio management throughout the year; recent activity includes Genscape's acquisition of Locus Energy and dmg events' disposal of its digital marketing business

· £100 million share buy-back programme completed

· Net debt:EBITDA ratio expected to be below 2.0x at year end

· Full Year guidance unchanged and in line with market expectations~

+ Adjusting for the timing of Euromoney's events would result in underlying growth rates of +1% for DMGT Group and +3% for B2B.

Business to Business (B2B)

Reported revenues benefited from the weaker British pound relative to the US dollar.

· Risk Management Solutions (RMS): Core revenues were up +1% on an underlying# basis although, including the expected lower RMS(one) consultancy revenues, overall underlying# revenues were in line with last year. The performance reflects client consolidation and challenging conditions in the reinsurance market, offset by strong renewal rates. As outlined at the Investor Briefing event on 9 September 2015, RMS(one) remains on track.

· dmg information: revenues grew by an underlying# 6%. Genscape, the energy business, continued to deliver double digit underlying# growth. The property information portfolio, which includes Landmark, SearchFlow, EDR, Trepp, Xceligent, Buildfax and SiteCompli, delivered mid-single digit underlying# growth. Underlying# revenues at Hobsons, the education business, increased by 3%, although increased by 10% after adjusting for the non-recurrence of a major project completed in September 2014.

· dmg events: performed as expected, with a strong underlying# revenue increase of 14% and reported revenues being adversely impacted by the absence of Gastech. In September 2015, dmg events disposed of its digital marketing business, including the ad:tech shows.

· Euromoney Institutional Investor: continues to face challenging market conditions, particularly in the investment banking sector. Euromoney does not report its performance for the eleven months to August and released its pre-close trading update earlier today.

dmg media

· dmg media: year to date underlying# revenues declined by 3%. Circulation revenues were down 4% due to lower volumes, although both Mail Newspaper titles continued to grow market share* with the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday achieving 23.4% and 21.8% respectively. The Mail on Sunday increased its cover price by 10 pence to £1.60 on 5 April 2015.

Total year to date underlying# advertising revenues across dmg media are down 1% compared to last year, with newspapers down 9%, newspaper companion websites (mainly MailOnline) up 15% and other digital advertising (including Wowcher and Elite Daily) up 29%. Reported advertising revenues were adversely impacted by the disposal of the digital recruitment business, Evenbase, which occurred in stages during 2014. dmg media's total reported revenues declined by 4% over the eleven month period, including a timing benefit in respect of low margin newsprint resale activities, and are expected to decline by around 9% for the Full Year, in line with market expectations, reflecting the disposal of Evenbase.

· Mail Businesses: MailOnline's year to date digital advertising revenue growth of £9 million (16%) partly offset the £19 million (11%) decline in print advertising revenues at the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday over the same period. Underlying# advertising revenues across the Mail businesses as a whole, for print and digital combined, were consequently down 5%. MailOnline's global monthly unique browsers in August 2015 stood at 218 million, up 21% on last year, and average global daily unique browsers were 13.7 million, an increase of 21% on last year.

· Wowcher has continued to perform strongly with revenues increasing by 24% compared to the same eleven month period of the previous year. The business now has a substantial database of 8.1 million subscribers, 36% more than in August 2014.

For the four weeks since 23 August 2015 total underlying# advertising revenues for dmg media are up 5% on last year.

Group

Portfolio management activity continued throughout the year. dmg information's energy business, Genscape, acquired Energy Fundamentals and a controlling stake in Petrotranz during the first half of the year and Hobsons, dmg information's education business, acquired Starfish Retention Solutions, the US-based provider of higher education student support and advising systems. In dmg information's property information segment, SiteCompli acquired Empower, strengthening its position in the regulatory compliance market, and minority investments were made in India, Liases Foras and Propstack, and in Funcent in China. dmg events acquired Gulf Glass and GulfSol and Euromoney acquired a 15.5% stake in Dealogic, a leading provider of data and analytics to the global investment banking sector. dmg media acquired Elite Daily, the US-based news and entertainment website.

In September 2015, Genscape acquired Locus Energy, a leading US-based solar photovoltaic (PV) performance monitoring and data analytics provider.

Zoopla Property Group Plc, in which DMGT holds a c.32% stake, acquired uSwitch, the UK price comparison website and lead generation engine, for consideration of £160 million cash and a performance based earn-out of up to £30 million.

Disposals during the year included dmg information's Lewtan, Euromoney's Capital Data, as part of the Dealogic transaction and Jobsite, dmg media's digital recruitment business. In September 2015, dmg events disposed of its digital marketing business, including the ad:tech shows, improving the margin and growth profile of the remaining business.

Share buy-back programme, bond buy-back and net debt

DMGT's September 2014 £100 million share buy-back programme was completed on 10 September 2015. The Group acquired 12.2 million A Ordinary Non-Voting shares, at an average cost of £8.20 per share, over the course of the programme.

In October 2014, the Company repurchased £93 million 10% Bonds 2021 and £56 million 5.75% Bonds 2018, resulting in a £40 million increase in net debt due to the premium that was paid.

DMGT's strong operational cash flow and disciplined portfolio management have resulted in the expectation that the net debt to EBITDA ratio will be below the Group's preferred upper limit of 2.0 times at the end of the current financial year.

Full Year results guidance remains unchanged and adjusted results are expected to be in line with market expectations~.

A conference call will be held with City analysts at 8.00 am on 24 September 2015. The dial-in number is +44 (0)20 3059 8125. A replay of the call will be available on DMGT's website at www.dmgt.com.

Next trading update

DMGT's next scheduled announcement of financial information will be its preliminary results for the year ended 30 September 2015, which will be released on the morning of Wednesday 25 November.

About DMGT

DMGT is an international business built on entrepreneurship and innovation. We bring together leading companies and talented people to provide businesses and consumers with high-quality analysis & insight, information, news and entertainment.

Notes

# Underlying revenue is revenue on a like-for-like basis, adjusted for constant exchange rates, disposals, closures, non-annual events occurring in the current and prior year and acquisitions. For dmg information, underlying growth includes the year-on-year organic growth from acquisitions. For dmg events, the comparisons are between events held in the year and the same events held the previous time. For Euromoney, no adjustments are made for the timing of events but acquisitions are excluded completely. For dmg media, underlying comparisons exclude Villarenters, Metro Play and Evenbase, which were disposed of last year and this year, and distribution services revenue, which ceased last year. Underlying growth includes the year-on-year organic growth from Elite Daily, which was acquired in January 2015. dmg media's underlying revenues only include the profit but not the gross-up, equivalent to the cost of sales, from low margin newsprint resale activities.

~ Current City analyst expectations for FY 2015 range from £269 million to £277 million for adjusted profit before tax and from 56.1 pence to 58.5 pence for adjusted basic earnings per share with a consensus of £274 million and 57.1 pence. Adjusted results are from continuing and discontinued operations and are stated before exceptional items, other gains and losses, impairment of goodwill and intangible assets, pension finance charges, premiums on bond redemptions and amortisation of intangible assets arising on business combinations.

† dmg media's results are to Sunday 23 August 2015 and are compared to the same forty seven week period of the prior year. References to July and August are to the eight weeks to 23 August 2015.

* Daily Mail's 23.4% compared to 22.2% last year and The Mail on Sunday's 21.8% compared to 21.0% last year. Circulation market share figures are calculated using ABC's August 2015 and August 2014 National Newspapers Reports and excluding digital subscribers.

The cancellation of 3,566,594 A Ordinary Shares currently held in Treasury is expected to take place today, 24 September 2015. As at the end of 23 September 2015 and prior to the cancellation of shares, there were 8,566,594 A Ordinary Shares held in Treasury. There are also 2,962,214 A Ordinary Shares held by the DMGT Employee Benefit Trust. Following the cancellation of shares and including shares held in Treasury and by the DMGT Employee Benefit Trust there will be 343,066,342 A Ordinary Shares in issue. There are also 19,890,364 Ordinary Shares in issue, which are held by Rothermere Continuation Limited.

The average £:$ exchange rate for the eleven months was £1:$1.55 (against £1:$1.66 in the same period last year). The rate as at 22 September 2015 was $1.55 compared to the 30 September 2014 year end rate of $1.62.

This trading update is prepared for and addressed only to the Company's shareholders as a whole and to no other person. The Company, its Directors, employees, agents and advisers accept and assume no liability to any person in respect of this trading update save as would arise under English law. Statements contained in this trading update are based on the knowledge and information available to the Group's Directors at the date it was prepared and therefore facts stated and views expressed may change after that date.

This document and any materials distributed in connection with it may include forward-looking statements, beliefs, opinions or statements concerning risks and uncertainties, including statements with respect to the Group's business, financial condition and results of operations. Those statements and statements which contain the words "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect" and words of similar meaning, reflect the Group's Directors' beliefs and expectations and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and which may cause results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by those statements and forecasts. No representation is made that any of those statements or forecasts will come to pass or that any forecast results will be achieved. You are cautioned not to place any reliance on such statements or forecasts. Those forward-looking and other statements speak only as at the date of this trading update. The Group undertakes no obligation to release any update of, or revisions to, any forward-looking statements, opinions (which are subject to change without notice) or any other information or statement contained in this trading update. Furthermore, past performance of the Group cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance.

No statement in this document is intended as a profit forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this document should be interpreted to mean that earnings per DMGT share for the current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per DMGT share.

Nothing in this document is intended to constitute an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity. This document does not constitute or form part of any offer for sale or subscription of, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any securities nor shall it or any part of it nor the fact of its distribution form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract, commitment or investment decision in relation thereto. This document does not constitute a recommendation regarding any securities.

Daily Mail and General Trust plc

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www.dmgt.com

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