Daily Mirror firm Reach sees cost-cutting and digital turnaround pay off
Reach posted a 6.9% rise in underlying operating profits to £102.3 million for 2024 and said digital page views had returned to growth.
The publisher of the Mirror and Express newspapers has seen cost-cutting efforts bear fruit as it revealed better-than-expected annual earnings and said its digital arm returned to growth at the end of last year.
London-listed Reach notched up underlying operating profits of £102.3 million for 2024, up 6.9% on a like-for-like basis as hefty cost-cutting helped offset a 4.2% decline in revenues.
The group has been slashing costs in the face of industry headwinds, with costs reducing by 6.5% to £439.1 million last year as it axed 13% of its workforce.
The firm – which also owns the Daily Star and a raft of regional titles – added that it expects to trim costs by a further 4% to 5% in 2025.
While print advertising and circulation remained under pressure, it hailed the start of a recovery in its digital business, with all-important page views returning to growth in the final three months of 2024.
Digital revenues rose 2.1% to £130 million last year, having plunged by 15% in 2023 amid a hit to referrals from tech platforms.
Firms such as Facebook owner Meta moved in 2023 to prioritise user-generated content above news on their social media sites, which has taken its toll across the traditional media sector.
While page views were still down 14% overall in 2024, Reach said they increased by 6% in the fourth quarter, with digital advertising also on the rise in the quarter, helping digital revenues lift 8.6% on a like-for-like basis.
Reach said: “After periods of decline, open market prices for mass-scale advertising have stabilised.
“Similarly, following the deprioritisation of news by the dominant tech firms, referral traffic has also stabilised.”
But print sales continued to decline, with like-for-like advertising revenues tumbling by 20.3% at the end of 2024, with circulation sales off 3%.
Reach said trading had been “encouraging” in the first two months of 2025, “supported by growing audience numbers”.
It said: “We remain alive to the uncertain macro environment and dynamic media backdrop.
“Despite this we continue to expect digital growth, along with a reduction on adjusted operating costs of 4-5%.”
Johnathan Barrett, at Panmure Liberum, said: “Data-driven and more focused content creation is driving better engagement and an improved user experience.”
He said Reach’s online page views should continue to improve in 2025, but cautioned the “UK ad market has had a soggy start to 2025 and the outlook is now understandably marred by macro concerns”.
