DMGT rises 5% despite ad sales hit by weather

Daily Mail & General Trust today admitted December's bad weather hit advertising at its newspapers.

Ad revenues at the Daily Mail and Metro rose 6% on an underlying basis in the three months to January 2 but fell in December.

Retail and finance advertisers increased spending but other sectors were down.

Finance director Peter Williams suggested "people were carrying on in the shops but not committing to big-ticket items like cars".

Digital advertising revenue soared 73%, thanks to the growing popularity of Mail Online.

Advertising at the national titles in January was up 2% and visibility is "very limited" but Williams remains cautiously upbeat.

"We're encouraged by what ITV is saying," said Williams, referring to reports ad revenue at the broadcaster could be up as much as 18% in April.

The Daily Mail this week launched its biggest TV advertising campaign in a decade, with the strapline "Upgrade to the Daily Mail", made by agency M&C Saatchi.

DMGT, minority shareholder in the Evening Standard, saw group revenues rise 5% to £497 million in the quarter.

Business-to-business information, responsible for almost half of group turnover, performed strongly - up 11%.

However, regional newspaper arm Northcliffe continued to see revenues tumble, falling 6%.
Recruitment advertising was particularly weak, tumbling 26% but property was up 1.5%.

Analysts at Numis Securities recently suggested that DMGT could merge its Northcliffe titles with another publisher or create a joint venture.
Williams, who is stepping down next month in favour of former News International executive Stephen Daintith, declined to comment on such speculation.