Outside of DC Thomson office in Dundee. Picture: Shutterstock/Antoni M Lubek
Subscriptions, advertising and cloud services revenues grew at Scotland-based media business DC Thomson in the year to 31 March 2025.
The business reported level like-for-like revenues compared to the previous year at around £134m, citing “challenging market conditions”.
In total its results, filed at Companies House in December, cited revenues of £184m, up from £154m, when including new income from its investment portfolio and pension assets.
DC Thomson publishes newspaper titles including The Press and Journal, The Courier and The Sunday Post, magazine brands like Beano, Puzzler and Stylist, runs local radio stations, has a newspaper printing business, and cloud services company Brightsolid.
Pre-tax profits were £31m. In the previous year, DC Thomson reported pre-tax profits of £94m of which £92m was attributed to valuation gains on its financial assets, leaving £1.8m in profit from the core businesses. The equivalent valuation gains last year were £14.5m.
The total group assets from the investment portfolio were slightly down at £1.1bn.
The company said it is continuing to invest in marketing, technology, data, AI and skills development as part of an ongoing transformation, with particular focus on growing digital subscriptions and B2B products.
Subscriptions were up by 1% to £41m. The business has now surpassed 50,000 subscribers to its regional news titles. It is also focusing on building subscriptions at other titles like Stylist.
DC Thomson previously set a target of reaching 75,000 digital subscriptions by 2025 .
Advertising was up 14% or £2m to £19.4m, as the company said this revenue line”held up well in a very competitive marketplace and in uncertain economic conditions”.
Newsstand revenue was down 1% to £51m as a “strong performance” in the Puzzler range and price increases mitigated the impact of circulation declines.
The Press and Journal and The Courier are the second and third biggest-selling regional newspapers in the UK respectively (behind the Irish News) with circulations of 19,525 and 14,836 in the first half of 2025. They were both down by about 10% year on year.
Meanwhile within DC Thomson’s cloud services, up in total by 2%, Brightsolid increased revenue by 12% as it expanded its cybersecurity and Microsoft capabilities and diversified its number of managed services. Since the end of the financial year, Brightsolid bought IT services business Synergi Software.
Contract print revenues were down as two longstanding customers moved to other print works “as overall capacity in the market fell”.
Chairman Christopher Thomson said: “These results demonstrate the resilience and adaptability of our business in a rapidly changing market.
“We are investing in data, technology and talent to ensure our purpose driven brands remain trusted and relevant for generations to come.
“Our strategy is clear: build sustainable growth by diversifying revenues, protecting profitability and creating new opportunities in digital and B2B markets.
“At the same time, we continue to deliver efficiency in print and maintain the quality our audiences expect.
“With strong foundations and a commitment to transformation, DC Thomson is well-positioned to thrive despite the market conditions.”
Employee costs remained steady at £55.1m as the average number of employees at the group grew from 1,314 in 2024 to 1,317. Severance costs of £1.8m were down from £2.1m in 2024 and £6.5m in 2023.
The highest-paid member of “key management” received £408,000, up from £407,000 a year earlier. Dividends paid to directors totalled £547,000, down slightly from £551,000.
During the financial year a new subsidiary was established to reinsure risk from the group’s legacy defined benefit pension scheme with the aim of strengthening its long-term security. These new insurance revenues enhanced total trading revenues but these were excluded from the like-for-like revenue report.
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