British media firm Daily Mail & General Trust predicted a return to growth after posting a small rise in year profits today and said it was closely watching developments at London's Telegraphnewspapers.
The publisher of the Daily Mail, Britain's second-biggest newspaper by sales, and London's Evening Standard, said national advertising revenues had picked up 1.7 per cent in October and were now on a gently rising trend.
The advertising industry is recovering after a severe downturn over the past few years put pressure on Britain's newspaper market, one of the world's most overcrowded. In a market where the fight for market share is vicious, the recent prospect of some of Britain's leading broadsheet titles, the Daily Telegraphand Sunday Telegraph, coming up for sale has excited the industry.
The Telegraph Group is owned by Hollinger International Inc, which has been rocked by disclosures that its controlling shareholder, British-Canadian media tycoon Mr Conrad Black, accepted $32 million in unauthorised payments.
In need of a refinancing, Hollinger earlier this month also hired investment bank Lazard LLC to look at the possible sale of the company, or one or more of its properties.
The Daily Mailsaid it was monitoring the situation at the Telegraph Group closely. British media tycoon Mr Richard Desmond, owner of Express Newspapers, one of the Daily Mail'smain rivals, is reported to have lined up finance for a bid for the Telegraphnewspapers.