Media house investing for growth

Media group DC Thomson has said it is investing in the future after another “stable year” of growth.

Newly published accounts at Companies House show the Dundee headquartered group – whose extensive portfolio of newspaper and magazine titles include The Courier and the Sunday Post – generated revenues of £277 million in the year to March 31, up from £275.3m in 2016.

The company said it had been “another stable year” with its “ever evolving portfolio of businesses” helping to build on the stable platform provided by its traditional publishing activities.

The publishing unit – which takes in the group’s newspapers, magazines and its Discovery Print contracting arm – saw its profitability improve in the year.

The Discovery Print operation was a highlight, with revenues increasing by 42.3% year-on-year.

The group also moved to further expand its reach, with significant investment made into new business areas such as gifting.

Brightsolid, the digital cloud hosting business, saw revenues jump by 18.8% in the year as its state-of-the-art Aberdeen data centre chalked up a number of major contracts and new client wins.

In his directors’ report to the accounts, executive chairman Andrew Thomson said the group was investing for the future.

He cited the return in April of more than 600 staff to the group’s renovated Meadowside headquarters in Dundee as a practical example of that strategy.

“Whilst we expect our traditional business to continue to prosper, we are committed to finding new products and markets,” Mr Thomson said.

“Our trading operations have been affected by challenges to revenues but the core publishing business continues to trade well in comparison to our peers.

“Whilst we have belief in the longerterm future of the core business, the challenges in publishing mean that we are working on brand extensions and other initiatives to support these businesses.”

DC Thomson’s renovated headquarters at Meadowside.