The Spectator’s UK profit grows as magazine ‘resilient’ ahead of sale

The Spectator has said its profits in the UK grew last year, as the nearly 200-year-old magazine gears up for a sale.

The weekly magazine, which was first published in 1828, said it is a profitable business which has “shown resilience through tough market conditions”.

The company reported an increase in its UK earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to £4.8 million in 2022, up from £4.4 million the year before.

Its revenues totalled £20.8 million last year, up 2.5% compared with 2021, it disclosed.

The increase was driven up by non-subscription sales, such as income from events, broadcast media and advertising, which climbed by 13% last year.

Revenue from magazine subscriptions was flat year on year, making £16.3 million as it ramped up investment in the digital magazine.

The editor of The Spectator, Fraser Nelson, said: “We are now over £20 million in revenue with profitability that has shown resilience through tough market conditions.

“Across print, online and broadcast, The Spectator is now poised to begin what I have no doubt will be the greatest chapter in its long history.”

On a group level, which includes published content in the US and Australia, its operating profit fell to £2.6 million from £2.9 million the prior year.

The magazine, which says its writers have no party line, is reportedly weeks away from being put up for sale, as well as the Daily and Sunday Telegraph owner Telegraph Media Group.

They were taken over by Lloyds Banking Group earlier this year from former owners the Barclay family, who were unable to pay their debts to the bank.

The owner of the Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post, National World, emerged as a potential buyer of the Telegraph newspapers, confirming that it was considering taking part in a sale process when it goes ahead.

The Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator could be sold to different buyers once their respective sales processes go ahead.

The Spectator had about 122,500 paid subscribers around the world at the end of last year, with the vast majority in the UK. It marks a 56% increase on its pre-pandemic total paid subscribers in 2019.

Mr Nelson added: “When I became editor in 2009, the industry was just starting a descent that would see magazine sales fall by more than two thirds over the decade.

“But subscriptions to The Spectator doubled – and so, now, has our income.”