Telegraph owner reports losses of 16m for 2008

THE TELEGRAPH Media Group (TMG) yesterday reported a pre-tax loss of £15.7m for the year ending 28 December 2008, hit by a £32.9m charge following its exit last October from a printing deal.

Records at Companies House show that TMG, the publisher of the Daily Telegraph, reported a turnover of £343.4m for the year, down by three per cent from the previous year.

Operating profit before the exceptional items was £32m, a 6.7 per cent year-on-year drop from the £34.3m reported in 2007.

The pre-tax loss compared to a profit of nearly £10m in 2007.

Costs attributable to exceptional items totalled £47.1m, with £32.9m of this amount made up of restructuring costs relating to the group’s termination of its printing joint venture with Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell.

TMG said in April 2007 that it planned to end the Westferry printing joint venture, opting instead to publish its titles on News of the World owner News International’s presses.

TMG said it expected advertising conditions to “remain extremely tough”, although it added that it expects better resilience from its circulation revenues.