UK Edition
The Guardian has reported a £5m dip in UK sales amid a downturn in the digital advertising market and continued decline in print readership.
Guardian Media Group (GMG), the title’s parent company, saw its domestic turnover fall to just over £171m in the latest financial year.
This was offset by growth in international revenues, which rose 17pc to £93m. The publisher, which targets left-leaning readers in the US and Australia, is now seeking expansion on the Continent. A new European edition of its website with a dedicated staff is scheduled for launch in autumn.
It meant overall turnover rose 3pc to £264m. However, the Guardian recorded a £21m cash outflow as it invested more in editorial teams, newsletters and podcasts.
The company did not disclose the financial impact of a cyber attack late last year that exposed employees’ personal details and forced many staff members to work from home for months.
Charles Gurassa, GMG chairman, said the UK economic outlook “remains challenging” but added: “We will continue to prioritise investments in journalism and our organisational capabilities to offer readers ever richer and deeper coverage, and enable more people to experience and enjoy the Guardian.”
GMG is backed by the Scott Trust, an endowment fund established in 1936 to support the newspaper. The value of the fund stood at £1.2bn at the end of March, down marginally from the previous year.
The Guardian also relies on donations from readers, asking visitors to its websites to contribute through either a one-off payment or a regular contribution. It has resisted an industry shift to subscriptions to keep its journalism free to read.
Such reader revenues rose to £82m last year, with more than half coming from outside the UK. Overall digital revenues, also including advertising, now account for 70pc of the total.
Newspaper publishers have been seeking to diversify their businesses away from volatile advertising.