Daily Mirror publisher reduces expected phone hacking payouts

THE publisher of the Daily Mirror has slashed its expected payouts for historical phone hacking despite losing a high-profile case to the Duke of Sussex.

Reach, which also publishes the Daily Express and a host of regional titles, said the expected cost of settling claims had fallen by more than £20m. It comes even after a High Court judge awarded the Duke of Sussex £140,000 in damages over “widespread and habitual” phone hacking at the Mirror between 1996 and 2009.

Despite the defeat, the judge said any claims brought after October 2020 were likely to be dismissed.

Reach said this meant a number of outstanding claims could be resolved and “should largely bring an end to future claims”.

It cut its forecasted costs of settling by £20.2m.

Jim Mullen, the chief executive of Reach, said the ruling was a “big thing for us”, adding: “Basically it means that all the money we have to put aside and we can’t invest in journalists, commercial teams, product, we can now release.” He also pointed to the recent conclusion of pension valuations, which is expected to cut contributions by around £40m from 2028.

Shares in Reach jumped more than 15pc following the update. It came as the newspaper publisher reported a sharp fall in profits after announcing sweeping job cuts at the end of last year. Reach posted a statutory operating profit of £46.1m in 2023, down more than 35pc on the previous year.

This was largely driven by restructuring charges after the company shed around 800 roles as part of a wider cost-cutting drive.

Stripping out the impact of the restructuring, profits fell 9pc to £96.5m. Digital advertising revenues tumbled 15pc, which Reach blamed on wider economic uncertainty and a “material reduction in page views” after Facebook deprioritised news content.

Print ad revenues proved more resilient but were still down almost 12pc. Mr Mullen has previously warned that the group’s print titles could become loss-making within five years.

Overall revenues fell by 5.4pc, or £32.8m, to £568.6m.