Reach ( the publisher of the Daily Mirror and Daily Express as well as the Manchester Evening News, reported a 24% drop in first-half adjusted operating profit after it was hit by Facebook’s move away from news content and a tough market for print advertising.
The company said it would cut costs to improve its performance in the second half, allowing it to maintain profit expectations.
Chief Executive Jim Mullen said digital revenue, which fell 16% to £60.8 million , had been “materially affected” by lower referral traffic, particularly after Facebook deprioritised news content.
Facebook’s decision in April to shut down Instant Articles, a mobile-friendly format that quickly loaded news articles on the Facebook app led to a “significant decrease” in readers referred to its news sites.
However, Reach’s focus on its own customer data was increasing its exposure to directly sold, higher value advertising, he said.
Print revenue declined 2.7% to 217.3 million pounds after cover price increases largely offset advertising declines, the company said. It added that newsprint costs had started to fall, which would help reduce costs in the second half.
Reach said full-year profits for 2023 were expected to be in line with market consensus given cost savings that would mainly boost its financial position in the second half of the year.
