Telegraph publisher hails profit rise amid subscription push as bidders circle

The Telegraph Media Group was put up for sale in June after talks between their billionaire owners, the Barclay family, and lenders collapsed.

The publisher of The Daily and Sunday Telegraph says most of its annual sales now come from subscriptions (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Archive)

The publisher of The Daily and Sunday Telegraph has said the majority of its annual sales now come from subscriptions thanks to a digital push as it looks to weather wider pressure on newspaper revenues and cost hikes.

Telegraph Media Group (TMG) – which was put up for sale in June after talks between their billionaire owners, the Barclay family, and lenders collapsed – reported a 2% rise in subscriptions to 734,000 in 2022, thanks to an 8% hike for digital subscriptions.

Chief executive Nick Hugh said the group was “firmly on track” to achieve its target of reaching one million subscriptions in 2023, adding it was likely to hit the milestone ahead of the year-end goal.

TMG remains confident in the strategy and expects that profitability will increase further in 2023, despite continued decline in print advertising revenues and well-documented inflationary pressures

Telegraph Media Group

In figures published for the first time for 2022, it said digital subscription revenues jumped 31% to £57.9 million, helped by price increases.

Overall, subscriptions accounted for 51% of total wider revenues last year, it said.

This has increased further to 52% so far in 2023 as TMG said the subscriptions growth momentum had continued – reaching over 974,000 as of June.

Last month, it emerged that the Daily and Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator magazine were being put up for sale after the Barclay family lost control of the titles following a bitter row over unpaid debts.

Lloyds Banking Group appointed corporate finance advisory firm AlixPartners as official receivers for B.UK, the overall holding company of the publications.

Potential bidders said to be interested in buying the Telegraph titles include the Daily Mail & General Trust, owner of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The i and Metro.

Other suitors are thought to include the German publisher of Bild, Axel Springer, while News UK may be another to enter the fray for The Spectator, according to reports.

There was no update on the sale process in the TMG accounts.

Revenues lifted 4% to £254.2 million in 2022, but the group – which bought the Chelsea Magazine Company in March – signalled that sales growth had increased to around 8% in 2023.

TMG said: “TMG remains confident in the strategy and expects that profitability will increase further in 2023, despite continued decline in print advertising revenues and well-documented inflationary pressures.

“Revenue (excluding Chelsea Magazine Company) is increasing at approximately double the rate of last year.”

It said industry challenges remain, but that its focus on growing subscriptions was helping provide “greater revenue visibility into future years”.

“Industry-wide structural decline in print circulation and advertising revenue continues at a consistent rate,” TMG said.

“Considering these trends and market conditions, the significant progress that has been made in growing subscriptions has reaffirmed the company’s commitment to its subscription-first strategy.”

Sir Frederick Barclay and his twin brother, Sir David Barclay, who died in 2021, bought the Telegraph newspapers in 2004 for £665 million.