22nd Mar 2005 07:00
22 March, 2005 Daily Mail and General Trust plc ('DMGT') Trading Update SummaryThis statement updates investors on the Group's progress in the current year,ahead of its half year end on 3rd April 2005. The Group expects a satisfactoryunderlying half-year trading performance and, despite negative cyclicalfactors, one in line with that of the prior half year. At the trading level,there has been continued growth, particularly within our business to businessdivision.For the newspaper divisions, the reporting period will include one fewertrading week than the first half of last year and timing issues also affect theresults from our events businesses, with a number of important shows includingIndex and Vinisud not occurring in this half year .OutlookThe Group's businesses remain in good shape. As regards the full financialyear, we continue to expect a satisfactory result, with good organic growth anda useful contribution from recent acquisitions.National NewspapersThe Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday have again achieved solid circulationperformances in an extremely competitive national newspaper market. The sixmonth ABC average circulation of the Daily Mail to February 2005 was down 2.1%on the previous year, in a market which declined overall by 3.2%. February 2005showed an increase on February 2004. The Mail on Sunday's six month ABC averagecirculation was up 1.8% against a market decline of 2.7%. The paid-forcirculation of the Evening Standard fell by 10% year on year, but since thelaunch of the Lite edition in December, the last two months have shown that theaggregate of the combined editions is 4% higher than the number of copies soldlast year. Metro, assisted by Northcliffe Newspapers' launch of two newfranchises in June 2004, increased its distribution to just over one million.Associated's display advertising revenues, adjusted for the one week's lesstrading this half year, have increased by 6.5% for the five months to February2005. By category, retail has remained strong and travel has shown good growth,but both finance and motors have declined. By title, display advertising atMetro is up 28%, the Evening Standard up 9%, the Daily Mail up 2.6% and TheMail on Sunday up 4.8%.The last three months, following the introduction of increased colour andpagination, have seen a marked increase in the migration of advertising frommono to colour. Colour advertising revenues in that period are up some 23% yearon year with no reduction in yields.Classified advertising revenues were up by 14% to the end of February, but down2% on a comparable basis, excluding the extra week and the revenues of recentadditions, Jobsite and Find a Property, which are both performing well.Regional NewspapersNorthcliffe has continued to perform well. Circulation revenues for the fivemonths to February 2005 were 3.8% ahead of the same period last year, or 1.8%excluding acquisitions and launches. ABC figures for the July to December 2004period show a decline of 3.9% on its titles, partly attributable to the furtherreduction in bulk sales to comply with revised ABC rules. The performance ofthe evening titles continues to be better than the regional newspaper industryaverage.Northcliffe's advertising revenues for the five months to February 2005 were6.8% ahead of the comparable period last year. On a like-for-like basis, UKadvertising revenues have increased by 3.8%. Property (up 17%) has continued togrow strongly, but growth in recruitment has tailed off since January.Information publishingDMG Information's business to business division has again generated doubledigit revenue growth on an underlying basis both at the property companies andat Risk Management Solutions. The performances of our recent acquisitions,Trepp and Lewtan, are ahead of expectations. Within the careers division,Hobsons' bookings are running ahead of the comparable period last year, whilstStudy Group's revenues are at a similar level to last year.ExhibitionsDMG World Media continues to perform well, although some of its markets havemore recently seen tougher conditions. Particularly good performances wereachieved by its Big 5 trade exhibition in Dubai, Surf Expo in Florida, and bythe premier US arts and antiques fairs, a welcome recovery for the lattershows. Within the home interest sector, the Fall season of shows in NorthAmerica went well.BroadcastingAt DMG Broadcasting, the continuing shift to late booking, together withincreased competition for holiday advertising, mean that Teletext's revenuesfor the traditionally weaker first half year are expected to fall by around 15%against last year. Its recently announced ten-year contract with ITV on digitalwill launch early in the second half of the year.DMG Radio continues to see strong growth in revenues from its radio network,particularly in Sydney. The most recent independent listener survey showed Nova969 in Sydney remaining the number one FM station, and Nova 91.9 in Adelaide,our most recent launch, performing strongly. Our other two Nova stations remainnumber one in their core demographic.Exceptional itemsDMGT expects to report modest net exceptional gains at its half year, arisingfrom the sale of non-core businesses and assets, including listed investments.Acquisitions updateNorthcliffe, Euromoney Institutional Investor, DMG Information and DMG WorldMedia have completed on a number of small acquisitions in recent months thathave not been announced previously by the Group. These acquisitions include:City Expres in Bratislava, a weekly free distribution advertising-onlypublication, which builds on our recent acquisition of Avizo in Slovakia; CEIC,one of the leading providers of time-series macro-economic data covering Asia;certain assets from Space Imaging to add analytical solutions capabilities toSanborn's mapping business; and the St Petersburg and Tampa Home & Garden Showsin Florida. The total cost of these acquisitions was around ‚£8 million.Enquiries: Peter Williams, Finance Director, DMGT 020-7938 6631Nicholas Jennings, Company Secretary, DMGT 020-7938 6625Andrew Honnor, Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200 Daily Mail and General Trust plc Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT Tel 020 7938 6000 Fax 020 7938 4626 www.dmgt.co.uk Registered in England and Wales No. 1845942ENDDAILY MAIL & GENERAL TRUST PLCRelated Shares:
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