Profits at Dundee publishing empire, DC Thomson – publishers of, among others, The Sunday Post – are reported to have fallen.
The Scotsman reports on its business pages today that the company posted pre-tax profits, in the year to March 31, dropped to £27.4 million from £32.5 million the previous year. Turnover rose to £276.2 million from £272.1 million.
But, says the paper, “a rise in group net assets to £983.5 million, including £88 million in cash, confirmed its position as one of Scotland's best-funded companies”.
The group also publishes the Press and Journal and Courier newspapers. And it's “significant” falls in advertising revenues which are said to be behind the profits drop.
The Scotsman also notes the company saying its women's magazines division and puzzle magazines have performed reasonably well, although the Beano and the Dandy continued to find their market difficult.
Meanwhile, The Herald quotes directors, saying: “We remain optimistic about the future of newspaper, magazine and book publishing. There is no doubt that copy sales and advertising revenues will be under pressure going forward and that there will be a number of challenges to face.
“The advertising revenue decline which has affected our newspapers in the main has now slowed as a percentage of our total advertising revenues but it is still a matter of some concern, although there has been some recovery in our Aberdeen newspapers.”
In June, allmediascotland reported the closure of a DC Thomson print works in Dundee with the loss of up to 350 jobs.
Closure and redundancy costs are quoted by The Herald at around £10 million.
