FT ad revenue down but profits leap 32%

Owner Pearson said today that FT Publishing's total revenue increased by 13% in 2008 to £390m and its pre-tax profits increased to £74m.

In recent years, the FT Group has shifted its business towards digital and subscription revenues, selling its largely print and advertising-based national media companies Recoletos in Spain, Les Echos in France, FT Deutschland in Germany and acquiring digital businesses such as Mergermarket.

Pearson said that, as a result of this strategy, in 2008 digital services accounted for 67% of FT Group revenue, up from 28% in 2000. While in 2008, advertising accounted for 25% of group revenue, down from 52% in 2000.

FT circulation revenue increased 16%, while Pearson said FT.com benefited from the launch of a new access model involving registration for free access to a limited number of monthly articles.

Full access paid subscribers to FT.com increased 9%, to 109,609, and registered users increased more than five-fold from approximately 150,000 at the end of 2007 to 966,000 at the end of 2008.

Marjorie Scardino, Pearson chief executive, said: "We don't expect economic conditions to improve any time soon, but we do expect our company to remain hardy and aggressive."