Evening Standard’s losses climb to nearly £70m over five years
The Evening Standard has reported a loss of £14m for last year as the Covid pandemic continued to dent advertising income and commuters remained at home – taking the London freesheet’s losses to almost £70m over the past five years.
The newspaper, which is majority owned by Evgeny Lebedev, embarked on a big cost-cutting drive during the pandemic which has resulted in staff numbers falling by more than a quarter from 320 to 236 in the 53 weeks to 3 October last year.
The publisher endured another tough year which also featured the departure of editor Emily Sheffield – the sister of the former prime minister David Cameron’s wife, Samantha, who took over from former chancellor George Osborne – last October after just 15 months.
The Evening Standard reported a 36% year-on-year fall in turnover from £44m in 2020 to £28m last year. The title has been hit particularly hard as it relies on advertising for 90% of its revenues.
It has run up £68.2m in pre-tax losses since it last made a profit of £517,000 back in 2016. The publisher did manage to reduce its annual loss from the £17m made in 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
“The coronavirus pandemic continued to cause an industry-wide reduction in advertising revenue which when combined with fewer people travelling by public transport in Greater London and a lack of future visibility resulted in a number of challenges across the sector,” the company said. “Challenges on print revenues required the company to be diligent on costs.”
The company’s wage and pensions bill fell from £21m to £16m as the overall cost of sales was cut by a third, about £11m “through a reduction in the number and size of newspapers printed alongside a reduction in all discretionary spending”.
The Evening
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