Reach, publisher of the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo, has reported third-quarter revenue growth of 21% and says it is “on track” to make £2m savings this year.
The publisher, formerly know as Trinity Mirror, has vowed to deliver at least £20m of annual “synergy savings” by 2020. Account revenue at Reach grew by 21% in the third quarter although, when revenue from the recently-acquired Express and Star newspapers was discounted, like-for-like revenue had actually fallen 7%.
Reach bought the Daily Express, Daily Star, Sunday Express and Daily Star Sunday from Richard Desmond’s Northern and Shell in a deal worth £127m in February this year.
Circulation and publishing revenue at the publisher was down 4%, while print advertising revenue had fallen by 20%. Digital publishing revenue was up 7%, with display and transactional revenue up 12%.
Chief executive Simon Fox said: “I am pleased with the progress being made on the integration of Express and Star and remain confident that we will deliver at least £20m of annual synergy savings by 2020.
“Our continued focus on tightly managing costs and driving digital revenue continues to provide confidence that performance for the year will be in line with market expectations.”
Reach’s board has said it “remains confident that performance for the year will be in line with market expectations”.
The company said market consensus is that profit before tax for the year to 30 December 2018 will be between £132.1m and £133.9m. That would be up on 2017, when Reach made £122.5m profit before tax.
Last month Reach sold off email marketing business The Communicator Corporation LTD, which it wholly owned, for £7.6m, of which a remaining £0.8m will be paid in March 2020.
Reach is set to axe more than 70 editorial jobs following the buyout of Express and Star newspapers.
