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Gloucestershire Business News

Newsquest boosts profits but cuts 331 jobs

Newsquest Media Group - which owns a number of Gloucestershire's most popular weekly newspapers - made profits of £45.2m last year following a £45.1m loss the year before.

Despite this, average staff numbers reduced by 18 per cent from 1,820 in 2020 to 1,489 in 2021, and are now down 30 per cent compared to 2,125 in 2019. The latest drop includes an 11 per cent loss of editorial jobs from 643 to 571.

The biggest departmental drop was in sales and marketing, down 28 per cent from 566 employees to 407. Total staff costs, however, were up from £61.4m to £62.9m.

Revenues grew marginally from £139.7m to £142m in the year to 31 December 2021.

The 2020 loss included an impairment of the group's publishing rights of £61.8m and a £2.4m write-down of fixed assets due to the initial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Newsquest produces the Wilts & Glos Standard, the Stroud News & Journal, the Gloucestershire Gazette Series and the Cotswold Journal.

In their report, the directors said 2021 had been a "resilient" year despite the final Covid-19 lockdown in the first quarter and higher newsprint prices in the second half of the year.

They added: "Inflation is putting significant pressure on the business in 2022, particularly on energy prices.Despite these inflationary head winds, the company remains positive about the opportunities for 2022 given the resilience of the business and the skills of its teams to drive the necessary audience growth and deliver the value sought by our advertisers."

Back in March, Newsquest acquired Archant Community Media, which employs 760 staff and has its head office in Norwich.

Newsquest Media Group is the second largest regional publisher in the UK with more than 120 news brands and 29 magazines.

Punchline says: "At the end of the day, it's the people that make the product and the product is only as good as the journalism that's in it. Good journalism takes investment and ultimately it will have a knock-on effect on sales. We've seen that on other titles across the region and nationally. People get worn out and good journalists leave."

What do you think? Email mark@moosemarketingandpr.co.uk 

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