Profits up after cuts and non-specific allusions to digital growth.
East-England regional publisher says 2010 operating profit bounced up by 157 percent to £8.2 million. But revenue actually fell 1.9 percent.
The reason? Cutbacks slimmed the cost base. Same old story over the last year for many a publisher.
Archant chairman Richard Jewson is also talking about digital, though isn’t quantifying Archant’s digital story:
“The impact of digital media on our traditional business has grown rapidly since broadband became mainstream and the economic downturn, which started in 2008, has served to accelerate that pace of change.
Archant has faced the challenges presented by diversifying and repositioning its portfolio of media assets, by pursuing efficiencies, and by accelerating its business development activities to take advantage of the opportunities created.
“Digital revenue has grown throughout this difficult period, and we fully expect this to continue, as new initiatives are introduced and bear fruit.”
We know from Archant’s earlier, interim version of these 2010 earnings that digital revenues grew 14.2 percent to £5.4 million.