Thursday, November 30, 2017

Media: "Shares in Daily Mail owner sink on gloomy 2018 guidance"

From City AM:
The Daily Mail's publisher's share price tumbled as much as 25 per cent today as it reported a steep decline in full-year profits.

The figures
In the year to the end of September, Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) reported a 13 per cent drop in profit before tax to £226m. Shares in the company were down 23.72 per cent at 535.5p at the time of writing.

Revenue stood at £1.7bn, up one per cent on an underlying basis.
The company booked impairment charges of £206m against some of its investments, including Genscape, Xceligent and SiteCompli. 

Why it's interesting
While DMGT's popular Mail Online moved into profitability, analysts at Liberum said they were concerned about, among other things, DMGT's guidance for 2018.

The company said its short-term earnings would be adversely affected by recent disposals and challenging conditions in some sectors.

It said the underlying rate of decline in its media business was expected to be in the mid-single digits in the next financial year, with the operating margin dropping to about 10 per cent from 11 per cent in the previous year....MORE
The Real Deal notes:

Daily Mail writes down Xceligent’s value to zero amid “disappointing” NYC expansion
Daily Mail and General Trust wrote down the carrying value of its real estate data subsidiary Xceligent to zero amid lower-than-expected profits from a push into New York City, the company said Thursday morning....MORE