Economist reports strong growth

Chris Tryhorn of The Guardian reports that The Economist‘s profits for its fiscal year rose despite advertising slumping in the final three months of the year.

Tryhorn writes, “The group, which publishes the weekly current affairs magazine across the world, is also less dependent on advertising than many media groups but is still under pressure as a result of the downturn.

“Operating profit for the group –- which runs the Economist.com website and Washington businesses such as the politics newspaper Roll Call as well as the Economist magazine –- was today reported to be up 26% year on year to £56m in the 12 months to the end of March, more than double the £24m reported in 2005. Revenues were up 17% year on year to £313m, compared with £197m four years ago.

“UK revenues rose to £57.2m, from £53.7m the previous year. UK operating profit rose from £13.6m to £14.97m.

“Despite the resilience of the Economist, the publisher had to close the European and Asian editions of the solely ad-funded CFO magazine earlier this year.”

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