Daily Mail and General Trust (LON:DMGT) announced today that it is increasing the price of the Friday to Monday editions of Daily Mail by 5 pence to 55p. The price of the Saturday edition and that of The Mail on Sunday remain unchanged.
The group says that while circulation of the Daily Mail, part of DMGT’s Associated Newspapers division, has significantly out-performed the market throughout the last year, the continuing high cost of newsprint means it is necessary to increase the cover price of the newspaper.
It notes that this is the first increase in the price of the Monday to Friday Daily Mail since April 2008.
In its interim statement to 3 April, 2011, released on 26th May, DMGT reported that trading during April and the first three weeks of May had seen advertising revenues at Associated 5% below last year, despite the Royal Wedding and the fact that Easter had fallen within the period this year.
DMGT also highlighted its the expectation that “the nervous consumer and retail market” would continue through the summer and expressed caution about the outlook for the full year due to the volatile and uncertain market conditions faced by our UK consumer businesses.
Today it revealed that since the interim statement, advertising revenues at Associated for the thirteen weeks to 3rd July have been 7% below last year, with those for the five weeks of June down 9%.
DMGT blames the fragile consumer economy, which in turn has meant continued uncertainty for the retail sector.
Looking ahead, the group says that while the outlook remains uncertain, the July to September comparisons versus last time are less demanding. The cover price increase will mitigate some of the impact of the recent decline in advertising revenues.
DMGT adds that apart from Associated, all other wholly owned parts of the business are continuing to perform in line with previous guidance as reported on 26th May, 2011.
In early trade DMGT shares were down 10.4p to 429p.