Regional publisher Local World’s first-year results have yielded a healthy profit of nearly £23m for shareholders Trinity Mirror and Daily Mail & General Trust.
Revenues of £230.6m brought adjusted profits of £38.9m for 2013 to the David Montgomery-led businesses which boasts 107 titles and nearly five million newspapers published weekly.
A strong performance saw print advertising revenues of £143.3m account for more than 60 per cent of the income and circulation’s £60.3m return representing a quarter of revenue.
But the £20.2m digital revenue was less than nine per cent of total revenues, according to the company’s first set of full accounts.
The company, born out of merger of Northcliffe Media and Iliffe News and Media, said it had made a “significant reduction in the cost base”, including staff cuts.
Trinity Mirror’s 19.98pc in the business nets an operating profit of £7.76m while DMGT’s 38.73pc represented a £15m of profit share.
Operating profit was £18.54m with a pre-tax return of £12.75m.
The company, which saw chief executive Steve Auckland leave in October last year, had exceptional costs including severance pay, reorganisation and legal fees of £3.9m. The wage bill for the 2,700 employees totalled £86.8m.
Local World has reported its intentions to invest in new commercial systems alongside continued investment in digital media, which saw a complete re-design and re-launch of Local World websites.
The company believes that with year-on-year digital audience growth, which now exceeds 14 million, it is “providing a strong base from which to accelerate the growth of our digital revenues.”
Local World said it had “successfully rationalised the business”, enabling a “significant reduction in the cost base.”
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We’re doomed, all doomed… Oh, hold on a sec. Hmm, this is an unfamiliar refrain for HTFP these days. OK then: We’re not all doomed, not all doomed, etc. etc…
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Bonus time for the professional staff then!
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Think how the profits would shrink if the staff who worked ten, 11, 12 hour days were paid for their overtime, instead of being told to take it back on quiet days. Instead there are never any quiet days because of the staff cuts. We must be mugs.
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All this profit and they have just anounced IT is being outsourced. What a joke.
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Nice to know my salary has helped to boost the coffers!
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When asked to comment on the fact that print remains by far the major contributor to the “success” of Local World, despite the lemming-like rush for all things digital, a member of the HQ team commented: “Shove a picture of Cheryl Cole’s new tattoo on your site pronto will you…”
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Just not healthy enough ….
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Local World is still in business, making profits and employing thousands of people – not all bad news eh?
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How wonderful
All we ever get from this lot are how they have slashed costs and how many ‘ unique users’ visit the site..blah blah blah !
Lost the plot years ago, you were once a NEWS service, now any old crap story will do as long as it gets a click..clicks make money, Ooooh !
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More profits at the expense of loyal staff to come with the announcement that they are chucking the whole of their IT on the scrapheap. AKA transferring them to an IT company from India with a terrible reputation.
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I know a young journalist working every hour God sends on a Local World paper. Her working conditions are appalling because of staff shortages.
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Proof that here is still revenue from print if it is done well. Outsourcing to India won’t maintain standards, if JP is anything to go by. My sympathy for the workers in IT. There’d be an outcry if workers came here to take these jobs, but nothing said when they go out.
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£20.2m digital revenue was less than nine per cent of total revenues, according to the company’s first set of full accounts…… Says it all really.
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All of them make healthy profits
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‘The wage bill for the 2,700 employees totalled £86.8m’.
Local World can’t be that bad then – after all by their own figures they pay an average salary of £32,148.14 pa!
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Ah Big problem; there’s a “big problem” with your calculations. Take out centre MDs and the massed ranks of people at HQ with the web 3.0 equivalents of clipboards (plus associated bonuses they pick up as a result of our efforts to run still excellent newspapers on thin gruel masquerading as proper resources out in the shires) and the average salary falls to £18,725.45…
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Big Problem
I don’t know anybody in Localworld on that wage..dream on !
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Hardly surprising ……I was made redundant last Friday after 37 years a staff snapper…at the minimum legal payout possible….as were all of my colleagues. Good luck to all who have to keep local world afloat just to fill the greedy pockets of those in charge.
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There’s is a feeling of failure to communicate to snappers as to what is actually going on all very vague meaning you can’t plan your future. Also will we be used after the redundancy on FL terms
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