A BIGGER digital business has helped the publisher of The Sun and Sun on Sunday lift revenue over the past year and maintain its top spot as the number one news brand in the UK.
Revenues rose to £320.5million from £318.6million a year earlier, according to newly released accounts for News Group Newspapers for the year to 3 July 2022.
NGN has benefitted from more digital investment, bigger licensing revenues and burgeoning operations in the US where audience figures are 193 per cent higher than a year ago.
The growth of the digital business has helped to offset falling sales of print newspapers and print advertising revenues.
As a result, underlying earnings were boosted from £12.9million to £15.1million last year.
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News Group Newspapers said that it had also grown underlying earnings due to cost savings across marketing, technology and production costs.
At a statutory level, which includes all legal costs and one-off charges, NGN recorded a £127.3million pre-tax loss. This compares with a £49.8million loss a year earlier.
The bulk of the loss comes from £99.8million of legal fees and damages and £28million related to the closure of the News of the World.
The costs compare to £49million in 2021 and £80million in 2020. NGN said the increase was largely down to claimants wanting to ensure their case was brought before court before a cut-off date at the end of September 2022.
These costs are fully covered by an indemnity from Fox Corporation, meaning they are reimbursed and do not affect the day to day running of the business.
News UK, The Sun’s parent company, was reported as making a significant $54million (£43million) profit contribution to parent company News Corp for the year.
Robert Thomson, News Corp boss, told financial analysts that The Sun’s digital advertising had outpaced traditional print advertising over the year for the first time - underlining how online readers have surged.
These accounts do not include TheSun.com which is growing fast in the USA.
In the UK, The Sun is the number one news brand for the fifth year in a row with 30.7million monthly readers, based on PAMCO figures.
During the year, the paper won Scoop of the Year for its exclusive story on Matt Hancock, former Health Secretary’s affair and Campaign of the Year for “Menopause Matters”.
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Its “Who Cares Wins” awards was broadcast on TV with Channel 4 for the first time. And The Sun helped recruit 30,000 volunteers to help with a Christmas covid booster roll-out.
