Losses at the Evening Standard have topped £100m over the past seven years, highlighting the financial pressure on the title, which last month stopped daily publishing in the capital after almost 200 years.
The Evening Standard, which has rebranded as the London Standard in a move to become a digital-first publication supported by a weekly print edition, reported a pre-tax loss of £20.6m in the year to 1 October 2023.
The latest annual loss, up from £16.4m in 2022, means the title has recorded total losses of £105.1m over the past seven years. The last time the Standard was in the black was 2016, when it made a pre-tax profit of £517,000.
Revenues fell from £31.6m to £26.8m year on year, the latest annual accounts show, with the publisher saying print and digital revenues had declined by 16%. The publisher said costs were £47m, with £15.5m of that relating to employees, whose numbers have been cut since the move to end daily publishing.
In its financial accounts the company said the relaunch of a “new and improved” website last year had not proved successful.
“The improvements were designed to make it easier for audiences to access news and features while opening new opportunities for growth in both scale and engagement,” it said. “However, despite the platform’s relaunch, the expected performance was not realised.”
The publisher said that while its latest losses had been covered by its owners, led by the largest shareholder, Evgeny Lebedev, it would need “significant additional funding” according to its cashflow forecasts to the end of next year.
“As at the date of this report, no formal funding facility has been agreed with the existing shareholders of the company,” the publisher said. “While there is no formal funding facility in place, the directors are confident of the intention of Lord Evgeny Lebedev to provide this support.”
Its digital-only stablemate the Independent, also owned by Lord Lebedev, reported its seventh consecutive year of profitability. However, the title changed its financial year-end and has reported 15 months of trading to 31 December 2023, compared with 12 months for its 2022 figures.
The Independent, which last year hired the former Daily Mail editor Geordie Greig as editor-in-chief, reported £56m in revenues for the 15-month period and said operating profits came in at £1.9m, the same as the 12-month period in its 2022 results.
At London Live, the capital-focused TV station that is also Lebedev-owned, profits plunged by 75% because of the loss of an unnamed key customer. Pre-tax profits fell to £746,000 in the year to 30 September 2023, compared with £2.99m in 2022. Revenues almost halved from £7.2m to £4.1m.
“The company’s historical profitability was dependent on a key custom relationship which expired at the end of 2022,” the company said. “Therefore, there is a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to remain a going concern. It is anticipated that in the event that further funding is required, the major shareholder will continue to financially support the company.”
London Live said that as at the end of September last year, it had net liabilities of £1.78m.
