Mirror owner Reach on track to meet full-year targets

Shares in Daily Mirror and Daily Express owner Reach rose on Tuesday after the newspaper publisher said it would met market expectations this year as the decline in top-line growth eased slightly in the third quarter, bolstered by improvement in online revenues.

Third-quarter revenues were down 2.5% year-on-year in the three months to 30 September, with 2.5% growth in digital outweighed by a 3.9% drop in print revenues. However, that followed a 5.2% decline in group revenues in the first half.

In print, the company reported a 1.9% decrease in circulation revenues and a 9.1% plunge in advertising revenues in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, digital revenues managed to grow – following a 1.3% fall in the first half as a whole – as improved yields made up for 5% fewer page views.

Looking ahead, Reach said: “We remain confident in delivering expectations for the full year”, with consensus forecasts for adjusted operating profit at £97.7m, up slightly from £96.5m in 2023.

“We continue to monitor the impact from the tech platforms' actions on referral volumes, and we expect further digital growth in Q4. We remain focused on costs and we are tracking slightly ahead of the 5-6% cost saving target we set at the start of the year,” the company said.

Shares were up nearly 2% at 95.51p by 0953 BST.