Associated Newspapers, owner of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, and The i, made a loss of over £44m last year due to lower revenues and increased printing costs.
Associated Newspapers, which is owned by Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail and General (DMG Media), said losses ballooned from £699,000 in 2022 to £44.5m in the year ended 1 October 2023, according to a new filing with Companies House.
All of the group’s main titles, the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, and The i, sold fewer copies in 2023 than in 2022, while Mail Online saw a decline in average global daily visitors. Daily visits in 2023 dropped to just below 11m down from over 13.1m the previous year.
The company said: “Our print titles continue to outperform the newspaper industry circulation decline, increasing their market share.
“However, there remains a risk that the newspaper industry declines as a whole and as a result Mail Newspaper copy sale decline accelerates due to changing consumer preferences and technological advancements.”
Associated Newspapers said the huge loss was also due to a provision against intercompany debtors of £6.4m, which was down from the provision of £13.3m made in 2022.
It warned that the recent global economic downturn has impacted print advertising revenue. Print advertising was a significant but decreasing proportion of the group’s revenue.
“The Group’s experience in the past few years has demonstrated how the long-term digital strategy, investment in its branding and management of costs puts it in a robust position both now or, of growth slows or falls, in the future,” it said.
Average monthly employees at Associated Newspapers fell from 1,924 to 1,901 last year.
Last month, Britain’s competition watchdog approved a merger between DMG Media and NewsUK, as the two publishers plan to combine their print operations.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced at the start of February that it was looking into the proposed joint venture.