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Trading Update

By LSE RNS

RNS Number : 3280S
Daily Mail & General Trust PLC
02 October 2017
 

2 October 2017

 

Daily Mail and General Trust plc ('DMGT')

 

Trading Update

 

Following the year end on 30 September 2017, this statement provides an update on the Group's progress.  It covers the eleven month period to the end of August 2017.

 

Group outlook for 2017 in line with current market expectations~

·     Group underlying# revenue growth of 1%; pro forma* reported revenues up 5%, including 6% benefit from foreign exchange rates

·     B2B underlying# revenue growth of 1%

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

·     Continued execution on increasing portfolio focus; disposal of Hobsons' Admissions business in September

·     Outlook for the Full Year unchanged; adjusted EPS towards high end and adjusted PBT towards low end of market expectations~

 

Revenue Growth v Prior Year

11 months to August 2017

 Pro Forma* reported

Underlying#

Group revenue

+5%

+1%

B2B

+9%

+1%

RMS

+14%

+0%

dmg information

+7%

+1%

dmg events

+12%

+4%

Euromoney

+6%

N/A

dmg media

-1%

+1%

* Pro forma reported growth rates are calculated after restating prior year revenues, to treat Euromoney as a subsidiary during the first quarter and as an associate during the eight months to August 2016.

 

Business to Business (B2B)

·     Underlying# revenue growth of 1% for the eleven months

·     Pro forma* reported revenue growth of 9% for the eleven months, including 9% benefit from foreign exchange rates, notably the stronger US dollar

 

Risk Management Solutions (RMS): revenues were in line with last year on an underlying# basis.  The roll-out of the Risk Modeler application on the RMS(one) platform continues and the response from clients remains encouraging.  The underlying# revenue growth rate for the Full Year is still expected to be low-single digit, at around 1%.  

dmg information: revenues grew by an underlying# 1% and the Full Year underlying# growth rate is still expected to be in the low-single digits.  The year-on-year performance of the European property information business has improved slightly, albeit not as much as expected.  Hobsons' Admissions business was disposed of in September 2017. 

dmg events: revenues grew by an underlying# 4% in the eleven months and the Full Year underlying# growth rate is still expected to be in the mid-single digits.  The larger events continued to perform encouragingly, although there was some weakness from smaller events, notably in the Canadian energy market.

 

Consumer: dmg media 

Revenue Growth v Prior Year

11 months to August 2017

Reported

Underlying#

dmg media

-1%

+1%

     Advertising

+0%

+3%

     Circulation

+0%

+0%

 

dmg media: revenues for the eleven months grew by an underlying#  1%.  Circulation revenues were in line with last year, with declining volumes offset by the 2016 cover price increases of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.  Both the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday continue to hold significant and growing market share of 23.5% and 22.3% respectively∞.

 

Total advertising revenues across dmg media grew by an underlying# 3%, with 21% underlying growth in digital advertising, partially offset by an underlying 6% 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 in the eleven months increased by an underlying# £19 million (22%), reflecting encouraging growth in both the US and the UK, more than offsetting a decline of £15 million (11%) at the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.  Advertising revenues across the Mail businesses as a whole, for print and digital combined, consequently grew by an underlying 2%.  MailOnline's average global monthly unique browsers during the eleven months, excluding Snapchat and Facebook, stood at 229 million, in line with last year, and average global daily unique browsers were 15.0 million, an increase of 4% on last year. 

 

dmg media's Full Year revenues are expected to be stable on an underlying basis, in line with previous guidance.

 

 

 

Outlook

The Group has made good progress over the year against its strategic priorities of improving operational execution, increasing portfolio focus and enhancing financial flexibility.  The disposal of Hobsons' Admissions business marked another step in refocusing the DMGT portfolio. The balance sheet continues to strengthen, enhancing DMGT's financial flexibility, and the year end ratio of net debt to EBITDA is expected to be 1.5 or less, comfortably below the Group's preferred upper limit of around 2.0 times.  The strategic review of DMGT, including the identification of which businesses and sectors merit further investment, is reaching completion and an update on the Group's strategy to deliver long-term growth will be provided at the Full Year results presentation.

 

Whilst market conditions remain challenging for some specific Group companies, the guidance for the Full Year remains unchanged.  The outlook for the Group as a whole is in line with market expectations~ with adjusted EPS towards the higher end of the range and adjusted PBT towards the lower end of the range.

 

 

For further information

 

For analyst and institutional enquiries:


Tim Collier, Chief Financial Officer

+44 20 3615 2902

Adam Webster, Head of Management Information


   and Investor Relations

+44 20 3615 2903



For media enquiries:


Alex Moorhouse, Head of Communications

+44 20 3615 2245

 

Conference call

A conference call will be held with City analysts at 8.00am on 2 October 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 its results for the year ended 30 September 2017, which will be released on the morning of Thursday 30 November.

 

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 £1,647 million to £1,731 million for revenue, from £210 million to £239 million for adjusted profit before tax and from 46.5 pence to 52.7 pence for adjusted basic earnings per share with a consensus of £1,676 million, £221 million and 51.1 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, the exclusion of disposals and closures and for the inclusion of the year-on-year organic growth from acquisitions.  For events, the comparisons are between events held in the year and the same events held the previous time.  For dmg media, underlying comparisons exclude 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 eight months to August 2016, consistent with the ownership profile during the eleven months to August 2017.  Treating Euromoney as a subsidiary for all of Full Year 2016, the absolute reported growth rates for the year to date were Euromoney -73%, B2B -17% and Group          -11%.

 

† dmg media's results are for the forty seven weeks to Sunday 27 August 2017 and are compared to the same forty seven week period of the prior year.

 

∞ Daily Mail's 23.5% compared to 23.1% last year and The Mail on Sunday's 22.3% compared to 22.0% last year. Circulation market share figures are calculated using ABC's August 2017 and August 2016 National Newspapers Reports, excluding digital subscribers.

 

The average £:$ exchange rate for the eleven months was £1:$1.26 (against £1:$1.43 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


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
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