WASHINGTON: DC Thomson & Company Limited has said profit for the year to 31st March 2015 was up 23% from £23.6m, despite a 10% drop in book sales.
The publisher, which publishes the Sunday Post and the Beano and owns book publisher Parragon, said circulation of its newspapers and magazines were down. However, cover price increases resulted in an overall 1.9% rise in revenues (2015 revenues totalled £244.8m, compared to £239.6m in 2014).
Advertising revenues from newspapers were down 6.4% but magazine ad and digital ad revenues were both up, by 8.2% and 26%, respectively. The company also said falls in advertising revenues were offset by reductions in operating costs. The UK was the company’s biggest market, accounting for £163.8m of revenues in 2015, followed by the rest of Europe (£23.7m) then the US (£18.1m)
However, books suffered a 10% fall in sales revenues. The company said Latin American, Australia and the US were “especially challenging” due to currency movements, despite stability in the UK and Europe.
Looking forward, DC Thomson said its newspaper and magazine businesses were “relatively stable” and “performing very well in relation to our peers and competitors”.
It will look to grow digital revenues and said the new data centre in Aberdeen will increase its data hosting facilities. Shortlist Media, which became part of DC Thomson last year, will also build on its range of free titles.
