Country Life publisher mulls raising magazine cover prices

SOARING inflation is forcing the publisher of Marie Claire and Country Life to consider putting up cover prices in another blow to the dwindling magazine market.

Zillah Byng-thorne, chief executive, said it was Future’s “duty” to shoulder the rising costs of paper and energy but was mulling price increases to counter the pain. Print costs have reached 25-year highs, heaping pressure on an industry that is already grappling with falls in circulation and print advertising.

Future expects its inflation costs to reach £15m by the end of the financial year, with around half coming from paper and printing expenses. The update came as the publisher behind titles including Homes & Gardens and Decanter recorded a 42pc increase in half-year pre-tax profits to £81m following a 10pc jump in digital advertising.

Revenues also rose 48pc to £404m for the six months to the end of March, as it made a “modest upgrade” to annual financial targets. Shares fell more than 2pc in afternoon trading to £19.97.

Ms Byng-thorne said the business would have made an even bigger increase to its forecasts had it not been for the squeeze from inflation.

She said it was unlikely Future would roll out cover price rises across all its titles, but there were “small pockets across the portfolio” that provided an “opportunity to look at price”.