Pearson Increases FT Cover Price
Pearson is increasing the cover price of the Financial Times from 90p to £1 after announcing that profits at the FT Group for 2001 are expected to be down 40% on 2000.
Circulation of the Financial Times has been healthy over the last two years in comparison to the national newspaper market as a whole (see below). After a promising start to 2001 the title experienced a dip in the middle of the year but by the end of the year circulation was improving once more.
Financial analysts predict that the price rise, which came into effect yesterday, will not deter FT readers and forecast that the move will lead to a £5m revenue increase at the newspaper.
Last December Pearson issued its second profits warning in two months and announced that ad revenue across the whole group for the first quarter of 2002 is expected to fall significantly below the same period in 2001. The company blamed the worsening economic climate for falling profits and said that it does not expect any substantial upturn in the advertising and technology markets in 2002 (see Pearson Warns On Profits).
Pearson: 020 7411 2000 www.pearson.com
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