Thursday, February 14 2008: The National Magazine Company, Hearst Corporation's principal business in the UK, announces a strong set of ABC figures across the group.
Twelve of the company's 19 magazine titles are up year on year with star performances in particular from Cosmopolitan, SHE, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, Coast and Men's Health.
Duncan Edwards, Chief Executive, the National Magazine Company says,
"NatMag has continued to show resilience in an increasingly competitive and challenging environment. Our core business and joint ventures remain healthy and vibrant as we focus on producing quality magazines which appeal to readers and advertisers alike."
Highlights include:
• Cosmopolitan has recorded its highest sales figure for four ABC periods of 460,276.
• SHE Magazine continues to gain traction with readers, showing an increase of 16% year on year.
• Harper's Bazaar delivers its 10th consecutive increase, (up 3.1%), under award-winning editor, Lucy Yeomans.
• Esquire, relaunched in Autumn 2007, delivers a 14% circulation increase.
• Coast, edited by Clare Gogerty, continues to go from strength to strength with a further 17% increase year on year.
• Men's Health posts its 12th consecutive year on year increase.
Jessica Burley, Managing Director, the National Magazine Company says,
"2007 has been a year of development for many of our brands. Investing in editorial remains the primary focus for our business, proving that great journalism and creativity will sell copies in the most difficult of markets."
For further information please contact:
Jane Wynyard
PR & Communications Manager, National Magazine Company
020 7439 5211, 07872836722, jane.wynyard@natmags.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
Title highlights
Coast: total ABC - 36, 855
Under the editorship of Claire Gogerty, Coast goes from strength to strength with a further 17% year on year increase in copy sales.
Company: total ABC - 250,075
Company delivers a solid performance in a difficult market.
Cosmopolitan: total ABC - 460,276
Cosmopolitan has recorded its highest sales figure for four ABC periods of 460,276, up 1% year on year.
Cosmo Bride: total ABC - 32,008
Cosmo Bride continues to perform well in this challenging market. A new brand and marketing strategy is scheduled for the magazine next month.
Country Living: total ABC - 195,159
Editor Susy Smith celebrates another record sale for Country Living with sales up year on year for the sixth consecutive year.
Esquire: total ABC - 59,800
Relaunched in 2007 by award winning editor Jeremy Langmead, Esquire has proven a success with readers. Active sales are up 15.9% year on year.
Good Housekeeping: total ABC - 464,041
Good Housekeeping has increased 0.1% year on year and now has more than 223,000 paid subscribers.
Harpers Bazaar: total ABC - 109,033
Harper's Bazaar, edited by Lucy Yeomans, has recorded its highest ever ABC figure with an increase of 3.1% year on year.
House Beautiful: total ABC - 175,019
Despite a challenging market for the homes magazine category, House Beautiful remains a strong number two in this field.
Prima: total ABC - 290,118
One of the UK's leading woman's lifestyle titles, Prima sells more than 290,000 copies every month, including more than 106,000 to subscribers.
Prima Baby: total ABC - 50,496
Prima Baby delivers an increase of 8.6% year on year.
SHE: total ABC - 176,024
Following the repositioning of SHE two years ago, the title has seen three consecutive ABC increases with sales up a further 16% year on year.
You & Your Wedding: total ABC - 60,024
You & Your Wedding has increased its sales 3.4% year on year.
Zest: total ABC - 96,611
Zest has taken market share from its competitors and increased sales by 3.7% year on year.
ACP-NatMag
Best: total ABC - 330,770
Best continues to significantly outperform its nearest rival selling 330,770 every week.
Real People: total ABC - 269,376
A solid performance by Real People which now sells more than 260,000 copies every week.
Reveal: total ABC - 326,057
Reveal continues to outperform the market which has seen double digit declines.
NatMag Rodale
Men's Health: total ABC - 240,315
Men's Health posts its 12th consecutive year-on-year ABC increase.
Runner's World: total ABC - 88,567
Record sales for Runner's World with a year on year increase of 6%.
About the National Magazine Company
The National Magazine Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst established by William Randolph Hearst in 1910.
The business comprises the core wholly owned business, also called the National Magazine Co and interests in three Joint Ventures. These are partnerships with some of the world's best publishers as follows:
ACP-NatMag:
A 50:50 JV with ACP of Australia which focuses on weekly magazines.
NatMag Rodale:
A 50:50 JV with Rodale Inc. of the USA which focuses on health and wellbeing.
COMAG:
A 65:35 JV with Conde Nast, one of the UK's largest magazine distributors.
NatMag publishes 14 consumer titles in the UK: Coast, Company, Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan Bride, Country Living, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, House Beautiful, Prima, Prima Baby, SHE, You & Your Wedding, and Zest. The group publishes a further two magazines, Men's Health and Runner's World, through NatMag Rodale and three large scale weeklies, Best , Reveal and Real People through ACP-NatMag.
NatMag division, Hearst Digital Network, publishes a number of community websites for NatMag magazines and also includes the Handbag network and www.netdoctor.co.uk, the UK's leading consumer health site.
For more information please log on to www.natmags.co.uk
