Newspaper publisher Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) is heavily punished by the market as it warns of declining revenue in its consumer media business.
That causes the media group to post a £112m full year loss as it writes down the value of several assets. The shares lose a quarter of their market value to trade at 534.5p.
Alongside results, which were actually modestly ahead of forecasts on an underlying basis, the company is guiding for its consumer brands like the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline to see a mid-single digit underlying revenue decline in the 12 months to 30 September 2018.
The market had expected a flat performance.
The forecast also compares unfavourably with the 1% growth delivered in the 2017 financial year, when MailOnline increased its revenue by 20% and moved into profitability.
The company is also taking £206min impairment charges on several investments including Genscape, Xceligent and SiteCompli.
ANALYST PUZZLED BY DOWNBEAT GUIDANCE
Liberum analyst Ian Whittaker, who reduces his recommendation on the stock from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’ is puzzled.
‘The question we would have is, if MailOnline is becoming a greater part of the group (17% of revenues in 2017) and is moving into profits and is faster growth, why is the like-for-like revenues trend going backwards as well as the margin,’ he says.
Adding: ‘What is clear is that DMGT faces another year of 'transformation' but it is not entirely clear when we will get the acceleration of top-line growth.’
Investec analyst Steve Liechti, who remains a buyer with an 850p price target, notes there was also a lack of ‘fireworks’ in the latest update on a strategic review of the business.
‘CEO strategy/investment review: nothing new we can see, though EDR (US environment consulting) for sale. More focus on operational execution and portfolio focus, but looks like more of the same.’
