National World half year profits and revenue rises
Media group National World, which owns the Express & Star and Shropshire Star, enjoyed a 17 per cent growth in revenue in the latest half year.
It was up to £48.8 million in the 26 weeks to June 29.
Digital revenue improved by 12 per cent to £10m in the period and the group's pre-tax profits rose from £1.7m a year earlier to £2.3m
The group bought the Midland News Association, publishers of the newspapers, in October last year.
It also includes The Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman.
The board's view is that the business will perform in line with market expectation for the full year.
Executive chairman David Montgomery said: "The enhanced performance and significantly increased profits are the result of expert integration of acquired businesses and also an energetic restructure of the operating model based around original, monetisable content, re-skilling of the talent base and greater engagement with registered customers.
"We are investing in both automated processes combined with the development of a social media platform that deepens the relationship with communities and interest groups to win back key marketplaces.
"At the same time our expert and specialist content, in areas such as business and sport, is exploiting a national footprint that in future will be better represented by the group to promote data and sales.
"National World is also alive to the attractiveness of consolidation, extracting immediate significant synergies and equipping acquired businesses with the innovative tools to grow exponentially."
Events revenues of £2.5m in the half year represented a 92 per cent improvement year-on-year, benefiting from having acquired Insider Media in April last year.
2024 is a transformational year for the events business with overall revenues expected to exceed £5m. The group will run 100 events throughout the year across the UK and 50 sector specific networking breakfasts.
In March the group disposed of Press Computer Systems to Naviga 1 UK. It had been bought as part of the MNA acquisition.
The group has completed two acquisitions in 2024 – Athletics Weekly was bought on May31 and Serious About Rugby League on July.
On May 30shareholders approved the payment of a 0.55pe per share dividend which was paid on July 10, in relation to 2023 performance.
An 0.2p per share maiden interim dividend for 2024 has been declared, payable on September 20 to shareholders on the register on August 9.
