Retailers’ profits on newspapers are up for the second month running, largely due to a successful price rise by the Mail. 

ABC figures for April show that the average retailer’s cash profits on Monday-to-Friday newspapers were up by 3% compared to April 2024. This was driven by price rises on several titles, which also achieved below-average decline in sales over the past year. 

The Financial Times had a year-on-year decline in sales of just 4.6% on weekday editions, which with price changes factored in resulted in a 1% increase in retailers’ profits. Similarly, despite weekday Daily Express sales falling by 10.6% over the past year, the average retailer today is still making 1% more cash profit on its editions. 

The Daily Mail has had the biggest cash profit rise for the average stockist, up 10% year on year, aided by strong sales and a higher price. 

Shaun Jones, Daily Mail Group’s head of circulation, told RN: “Sales were buoyed by a mixed news agenda from Trump’s tariff war and Katy Perry in space to the passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, alongside our rich reader print subscription offer that ran throughout the month delivering significant uptake.” 

This uplift meant the average store’s paper profits across all days of the week are 0.5% higher than this time last year. The month also reported massive copy sales increases on Saturday titles such as the Mirror and Star, both up by more than 5% on the previous month. 

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