27 July 2017

Daily Mail and General Trust plc ('DMGT')

Third Quarter Trading Update

This trading update covers the third quarter of DMGT's financial year, the three month period to 30 June 2017.

Outlook in line with current market expectations~

·     Underlying^# revenue in the third quarter in line with last year; pro forma* reported revenues up 7%, including 5% benefit from foreign exchange rates

·     Underlying^# revenue decline of 1% from our B2B businesses

·     dmg media underlying^# revenues up 1%, including strong advertising growth

·     Net debt increased by £16 million to £567 million, in line with our expectations

·     Appointment of Tim Collier as Chief Financial Officer on 2 May 2017

·     Outlook for the Full Year is unchanged

* Pro forma reported growth rates are calculated after restating Full Year 2016 revenues, to treat Euromoney as a subsidiary during the first quarter and as an associate during the second and third quarters.

Business to Business (B2B)

·     Underlying^# revenue decline of 1% in the quarter and in line with last year for the nine months.

·     Pro forma* reported revenue growth of 13% in the quarter, including 9% benefit from foreign exchange rates, notably the stronger US dollar; 11% growth for the nine months.

Risk Management Solutions (RMS): revenues declined by an underlying^# 4% in the quarter, reflecting the phasing of renewals, particularly in the prior year.  The roll-out of the Risk Modeler application on the RMS(one) platform continues and the response from clients remains encouraging.  

dmg information: revenues declined by an underlying^# 2% in the quarter.  Challenging market conditions continue to affect the European property information companies, Genscape's solar operations and Hobsons' Admissions business whilst trading across the rest of the portfolio remains encouraging.

dmg events: revenues grew by an underlying^# 3% in the quarter. The Gastech event, which occurred in Tokyo in April, delivered a good level of growth.  As expected, this was partly offset by other events, notably the Global Petroleum Show which continues to be adversely affected by the weak Canadian energy market.

Consumer: dmg media 

dmg media: revenues grew by an underlying^# 1% in the quarter.  Circulation revenues were down 1% due to declining volumes, whilst benefiting from the 2016 cover price increases of The Mail on Sunday and the Saturday edition of the Daily Mail.  Both the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday continue to hold significant and growing market share of 23.3% and 22.2% respectively∞.

Total advertising revenues across dmg media grew by an underlying^# 5% in the quarter, with 27% underlying growth in digital advertising, partially offset by an underlying 5% decline in print advertising.  Reported revenue growth was adversely affected by the disposal of Elite Daily in April 2017.

Mail businesses: MailOnline's advertising revenues increased by an underlying^# £6 million (28%), reflecting continued encouraging growth in both the UK and the US and more than offsetting a decline of £3 million (9%) at the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday for the quarter.  Advertising revenues across the Mail businesses as a whole, for print and digital combined, consequently grew by an underlying 5%.  MailOnline's average global monthly unique browsers during the quarter, excluding Snapchat and Facebook, stood at 232 million, up 2% on last year, and average global daily unique browsers were 15.3 million, an increase of 6% on last year. 

Net debt

Net debt at 30 June 2017 was £567 million, up from £551 million at 31 March 2017.  The Board's upper limit for DMGT's net debt:EBITDA ratio remains 2.0x and the Board is confident that the Group will continue to have sufficient financial flexibility to execute on its strategy.

Outlook

The Group's performance during the third quarter has been in line with expectations.  Market conditions remain challenging for some specific companies or parts of businesses.  DMGT continues to benefit from being a diversified portfolio operating in multiple sectors across B2B and consumer markets.  The focus remains on improving operational execution, completing the strategic portfolio review and enhancing our financial flexibility during this period of transition.  The guidance for the Full Year remains unchanged and the outlook is in line with current market expectations~.

Appointment of Tim Collier as Chief Financial Officer

As announced on 6 April 2017, Tim Collier has, with effect from 2 May 2017, been appointed Chief Financial Officer and to the Board of DMGT.  He joined from Thomson Reuters where he was CFO of the Financial and Risk business.

Market Abuse Regulation

As with previous financial announcements, the information communicated in this announcement includes inside information.  DMGT has included this statement in this announcement in order to comply with the Market Abuse Regulation, which came into effect on 3 July 2016.

For further information

Conference call

A conference call will be held with City analysts at 7.45am on 27 July 2017.  The dial-in number is +44 (0)20 3059 8125.  A recording of the call will be available on DMGT's website at www.dmgt.com.

Next trading update

The Group's next scheduled announcement of financial information will be a trading update, provisionally scheduled for 29 September 2017.

About DMGT

DMGT manages a diverse, multinational portfolio of companies, with total revenues of almost £2bn, that provide businesses and consumers with compelling information, analysis, insight, events, news and entertainment.  DMGT is also a founding investor and the largest shareholder of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC and ZPG Plc.

Notes

~ Current City analyst expectations for DMGT for FY 2017 range from £1,656 million to £1,731 million for revenue, from £210 million to £239 million for adjusted profit before tax and from 46.5 pence to 52.8 pence for adjusted basic earnings per share with a consensus of £1,678 million, £222 million and 51.3 pence.  Adjusted results are from continuing and discontinued operations and are stated before exceptional items, other gains and losses, impairment of goodwill and intangible assets, pension finance charges and amortisation of intangible assets arising on business combinations.

# Underlying revenue is revenue on a like-for-like basis, adjusted for constant exchange rates, disposals, closures, non-annual events occurring in the current and prior year and acquisitions.  For dmg information, underlying growth includes the year-on-year organic growth from acquisitions, excludes disposals and includes revenues from one-off sales of IP assets, consistent with prior years.  For dmg events, the comparisons are between events held in the year and the same events held the previous time and exclude disposals.  For dmg media, underlying comparisons exclude Wowcher and Elite Daily, which were disposed of, and 7 Days, which was closed.  dmg media's underlying growth includes the year-on-year organic growth from acquisitions and underlying revenues only include the profit but not the gross-up, equivalent to the cost of sales, from low margin newsprint resale activities.  Euromoney ceased to be a subsidiary of DMGT on 29 December 2016 and Euromoney is excluded from DMGT's underlying revenues.

* Pro forma reported growth rates are calculated after restating Full Year 2016 revenues, to treat Euromoney as a subsidiary during the first quarter and as an associate during the second and third quarters, consistent with the ownership profile during the nine months to June 2017.  Treating Euromoney as a subsidiary for all of Full Year 2016, the absolute reported growth rates for the third quarter were Euromoney -100%, B2B -16% and Group -10% and the absolute reported growth rates for the year to date were Euromoney -64%, B2B -11% and Group -8%.

† dmg media's results are for the thirty nine weeks to Sunday 2 July 2017 and are compared to the thirty nine week period and thirteen week quarter of the prior year.

∞ Daily Mail's 23.3% compared to 22.8% last year and The Mail on Sunday's 22.2% compared to 21.8% last year. Circulation market share figures are calculated using ABC's June 2016 and June 2017 National Newspapers Reports, excluding digital subscribers.

The average £:$ exchange rate for the nine months was £1:$1.25 (against £1:$1.46 in the same period last year).

This trading update is prepared for and addressed only to the Company's shareholders as a whole and to no other person. The Company, its Directors, employees, agents and advisers accept and assume no liability to any person in respect of this trading update save as would arise under English law.  Statements contained in this trading update are based on the knowledge and information available to the Group's Directors at the date it was prepared and therefore facts stated and views expressed may change after that date.

This document and any materials distributed in connection with it may include forward-looking statements, beliefs, opinions or statements concerning risks and uncertainties, including statements with respect to the Group's business, financial condition and results of operations. Those statements and statements which contain the words "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect" and words of similar meaning, reflect the Group's Directors' beliefs and expectations and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and which may cause results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by those statements and forecasts. No representation is made that any of those statements or forecasts will come to pass or that any forecast results will be achieved. You are cautioned not to place any reliance on such statements or forecasts. Those forward-looking and other statements speak only as at the date of this trading update. The Group undertakes no obligation to release any update of, or revisions to, any forward-looking statements, opinions (which are subject to change without notice) or any other information or statement contained in this trading update. Furthermore, past performance of the Group cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance. 

No statement in this document is intended as a profit forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this document should be interpreted to mean that earnings per DMGT share for the current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per DMGT share.

Nothing in this document is intended to constitute an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity. This document does not constitute or form part of any offer for sale or subscription of, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any securities nor shall it or any part of it nor the fact of its distribution form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract, commitment or investment decision in relation thereto. This document does not constitute a recommendation regarding any securities.

Daily Mail and General Trust plc

Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street,

London, W8 5TT

www.dmgt.com

Registered in England and Wales No. 184594