Free London business daily City AM has published accounts stating that it is in profit for the first time since launching five years ago.
The privately-owned title claims that it made an operating profit of £546,000 for the six months to June compared with a £302,000 operating loss in the same period a year ago.
Turnover for the first half was said to be £3.85m, compared with £2.8m in the same period a year ago. Pre-tax profit, after interest of £123,000 was deducted from the figures, stood at £423,000.
In a sign that the London media economy is bouncing back from recession, City AM reported advertising revenues up 39 per cent year on year for the period.
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City AM chief executive Jens Torpe said: “After 18 difficult months for all media we are now back on the growth rate we had before the financial crisis. We are confident we can maintain this positive trend and are therefore increasing the circulation this autumn by adding some 30-40 new stations in the commuter belt.”
City AM still has some way to go before it recoup’s total net investment/losses to date which stand at around £8m.
Managing director Lawson Muncaster said that “payback” for investors would be “pretty much on line with our business plan”.
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He said: “It is a very encouraging story for newspapers globally that profitability was reached in five years despite the worst recession to hit the ad market ever in that period. The only success story near to this achievement would be Metro launched by Associated which also took five years to reach profitability.”
City AM has a daily circulation in London and the commuter belt of around 100,000 copies a day.
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