Ad revenues pick up at Daily Mail

The media group Daily Mail & General Trust yesterday said that advertising revenues had picked up so far this autumn but cautioned that it could not predict what would happen to the market beyond Christmas.

Advertising revenues were 5 to 6 per cent higher in October and November compared with a year earlier. But Peter Williams, group finance director, cautioned that the increase was from a very depressed level a year ago. A key factor during the remainder of the year would be the strength of high street spending and the impact that had on advertising by the big retail chains.

"We are genuinely uncertain of what will happen but if consumer spending slows then retail advertising will logically slow down as well," he said.

Mr Williams was speaking as DMGT, the publisher of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London's Evening Standard, reported a 3 per cent rise in underlying profits for the year to the end of September. There was a slight fall in profits in its national and regional newspapers but this was offset by a strong performance elsewhere, notably from its exhibition operator DMG World Media.

Mr Williams said that while profits had held up on the two Mail titles, helped by higher circulation revenues, lower newsprint prices and lower costs, the Evening Standard had endured a "tough year" with recruitment ad revenues down by 38 per cent.

The group also confirmed that it had withdrawn from the bidding for Glasgow's Herald newspaper.