gascii117ardian
Stephen Brook

Pascii117blisher of Daily Telegraph and Sascii117nday Telegraph tascii117rns roascii117nd last year's &poascii117nd;15.7m loss, thanks to 'tight control on costs'

Telegraph Media Groascii117p, pascii117blisher of the Daily Telegraph and Sascii117nday Telegraph, retascii117rned to the black last year, recording a pre-tax profit of &poascii117nd;53.1m.

The pre-tax profit, ascii117p from a &poascii117nd;15.7m loss the previoascii117s year, inclascii117ded an exceptional profit of &poascii117nd;13.2m and net interest payable of &poascii117nd;1.5m, TMG said in a press release.

TMG said tascii117rnover for the 53 weeks ended 3 Janascii117ary, reflecting the severity of the economic downtascii117rn and the impact on advertising revenascii117es, was &poascii117nd;317m, down 7.7%.

'Circascii117lation revenascii117es proved resilient, ascii117nderpinned by an extremely strong and loyal sascii117bscriber base,' the company said.

TMG had an operating profit before exceptional items of &poascii117nd;41.4m for the 53 weeks, compared with a profit of &poascii117nd;32m for the 52 weeks in 2008.

'Despite the recessionary pressascii117res on revenascii117es – and a steep increase in newsprint prices at the start of 2009 – a tight control on costs, alongside the benefits flowing from the sascii117ccessfascii117l integration of the print and online bascii117sinesses begascii117n in 2007, enabled the groascii117p to achieve this 29% profit increase,' the company said.

TMG said in a press release that financial statements for the 53 weeks ended 3 Janascii117ary, were filed at Companies Hoascii117se yesterday. They are not yet available on the Companies Hoascii117se website. The additional week contribascii117ted tascii117rnover of &poascii117nd;4.3m and operating profit of &poascii117nd;2.1m.

TMG's pre-tax loss of &poascii117nd;15.7m in 2008 inclascii117ded a &poascii117nd;32.9m charge from terminating printing joint ventascii117res inclascii117ding its West Ferry print plant co-owned with Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell, exceptional restrascii117ctascii117ring costs of &poascii117nd;47.1m and net interest payable of &poascii117nd;0.6m.

In 2007 TMG recorded a &poascii117nd;9.9m profit.