Condé Nast UK profit falls for first time in 20 years

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 4, 2019

The publisher of British Vogue and British GQ blamed an internal restructuring for a significant decline in its profitability, swinging into a loss for the first time in 20 years.

New accounts filed with Companies House have showed that Condé Nast made a loss of nearly £14m in 2017, compared with profits of £6.6m a year earlier.

The loss came after a year of changes at the London-based companies, with longtime British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman being replaced with Edward Enninful and the transformation of Glamour into a digital-only publication.

The company is now preparing to merge with its US counterpart as part of a Condé Nast and Condé Nast International integration.

Condé Nast UK said the pre-tax loss was a result of one-off exceptional items such as a business restructuring to reorganise all units and relocate them into its Vogue House offices in London, and pension commitments.

However, revenues fell too, demonstrating the challenges facing traditional print media in the last years. Revenues fell by 6.6% to £121m, according to official documents.

Additionally, the publisher cut more than 50 jobs during the year, but its total staff costs grew to £47.2m from £42.6m a year earlier.

A spokesperson for the company said: “Condé Nast Britain’s underlying profit in 2017 was positive. Due to exceptional costs, inter-company accounting and the contributions to the closed defined benefit pension scheme, the picture in the public domain is not representative of our profitability.”

In other news, Shortlist Media, which publishes the Stylist and Shortlist magazines, also posted a pre-tax loss this week. The publisher said its losses doubled to £8.6m last year, while revenues grew by £0.3m to £22.9m.