Profits at Condé Nast's UK operations decreased by more than a third last year. Pre-tax profits, excluding exceptional items, tumbled 36% from £28m to nearly £18m, according to figures released today.
This drop follows a bumper 2024 for the publisher, which includes titles such as Vogue and GQ, when it recorded £64m from the sale of its UK headquarters, Vogue House. UK revenues also saw a 7% decline, falling from £75.9m to £70.6m. However, an 18% rise in international revenues, reaching £29.7m, helped maintain the company's total revenues at approximately £100m.
A spokesperson for Condé Nast stated that the company "remains profitable in the UK for another year" and attributed the change in profit levels to "a period of planned investment in customised client solutions." Restructuring costs more than doubled year-on-year, from £1.9m to £4.3m, primarily due to severance costs. Despite this, staff numbers remained largely consistent, decreasing from 466 to 461 between 2024 and last year.
The publication of these figures follows the Newhouse family, who own Condé Nast through their holding company Advance, ruling out a sale of the publishing group. This decision was made by Steven Newhouse, chair of Advance, after speculation that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos might acquire the business.