The UK news market has changed significantly over recent years, with many national newspapers finding their readership increasingly migrating to online access.
Despite this growing trend for web-based news access, The Daily Mail and General Trust (LSE: DMGT) has managed to maintain a healthy market cap of $2.82 billion. With investment advocates including Nick Train vocal about the potential of the firm, can DMGT maintain its stability in the face of a decline in paper popularity?
Longevity indicates security
With most organisations, the very fact of achieving decades of solid trading usually indicates that the brand has the ability to weather evolving trends and changing consumer appetites. Established in 1922, DMGT has certainly proven the ability to adapt and transform according to consumer appetite and demand.
The Daily Mail has successfully navigated the potential pitfalls of migrating to an online environment, leaving many of its competitors behind in terms of level of popularity among readers. Unlike many others such as The Guardian, The Daily Mail has not yet been required to request additional funding from its readership in order to compensate for dwindling paper purchases.
This indicates a strong recognition of the preferences of its consumers, in terms of the ability to perceive fluctuating trends and evolve proactively to meet evolving demand. Through extensive advertising and a fast-moving turnover of articles, coupled with celebrity figures contributing to articles and opinion pieces, The Daily Mail has effectively maintained a string revenue stream despite the reduction in physical sales of the paper.
A strong global market player
Significantly, the firm also benefits from a significant presence globally, through its subsidiary DMG World Events and DMG Information, which affords additional financial security should UK appetites change and consumer habits impact revenue. The firm has a broad product base, operating in data analytics, information and entertainment.
This offers a diverse reach that enables DMGT to accommodate a broad readership and strengthen its overall foothold in the market. This is crucial for future growth, as more and more UK news readers migrate to a paperless environment and adjust their appetites to access information digitally.
As a result, DMGT looks like a strong prospect for future investment, meriting the faith that key investment figures such as Nick Train have placed in the firm. Through an insightful evolution, DMGT appears ideally placed to prosper into the next decade as a long-term stable investment.