The Euros and “effective” action on costs helped publisher of the Mirror Reach successfully to shore up its bottom line despite continued dents to revenue.
Operating profit at the publisher of the Daily Mirror and Daily Express rose by 23 per cent year on year, from £36.1m to £44.5m, in a set of preliminary results that improved on the 45 per cent drop to profit it reported in its annual earnings earlier this year.
This was despite revenue at the firm continued its longstanding pattern of falling, dropping 5.2 per cent to £265 in the six months to June 30, as most newspapers’ circulations decline and online content struggles to generate as much revenue.
The uplift in profit, which was partially down to several high profile and sets of job cuts announced at the back end of 2024, meant earnings per share rose from 8.7p to 10.1p, while its profit margin improved by 3.9 per cent.
The Euros also gave the firm a boost, it said, as advertisers flocked to make hay from the fever that gripped the nation towards the end of the reporting period in June.
And the redundancy rounds, one of which led to 400 job losses, prompted uproar staff at the London-listed publisher, which also produces the Daily Star and much of the UK’s local news, with some threatening strike action.
Jim Mullen, Reach’s chief executive, said: “We are pleased to have delivered further operational progress this year, with our commercial and editorial teams making the most of the strong news agenda.”
“We continue to build a stronger, more resilient business and are on track with our plans for the year.”
The profit improvements were not helped by a change to the algorithms on social media platforms owned by Meta, which deprioritised news on people’s feeds last year. Page view volumes declined by a quarter over the period, but Reach said trends were “improving”.