DMGT says its pre-tax profit was 50% lower in fiscal 2020

In an announcement on Monday, Daily Mail & General Trust plc (LON: DMGT) said that its pre-tax profit in fiscal 2020 was 50% lower than last year due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has so far infected more than 1.5 million people in the United Kingdom and caused over 55 thousand deaths.

Daily Mail & General Trust plc lost close to 1% on market open on Monday. Including the price action, it is now a little under 20% down year to date in the stock market that has been volatile this year due to the pandemic. DMGT has recovered about 25% since its low in March, when the impact of the COVID-19 was at its peak.

DMGT reports a 14% annualised decline in revenue

The British multinational said that its pre-tax profit in the year that concluded on 30^th September came in at £72 million. In comparison, it had recorded a much higher £145 million of pre-tax profit in fiscal 2019. In a previous report published in the last week of July, DMGT had posted a 44% decline in its operating profit in the first nine months of the financial year.

On an adjusted basis, the media company’s operating profit printed at £90 million that represents a 35% year over year decline. In terms of revenue, Daily Mail saw a 14% annualised decline in fiscal 2020 to £1.21 billion.

CEO Paul Zwillenberg commented on the financial report on Monday and said:

“The pandemic has brought significant disruption and change to our markets, but the strategic and financial actions we have taken have ensured that we coped well and remained on the front foot.”

DMGT proposes 24.1 pence per share of dividend

The London-based company also proposed 24.1 pence per share of dividend on Monday as compared to a lower 23.9 pence per share in the prior year. According to Zwillenberg, the increase in dividend reflect that Daily Mail & General Trust expects its performance to keep robust in the upcoming months.

DMGT had said in October that its profit was starting to recover as advertisers returned after months of inactivity due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Daily Mail and General Trust plc performed fairly upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of roughly 45%. At the time of writing, it is valued at £1.47 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 7.03.