NUJ urges fair journalists' pay award following the announcement of £100m Reach plc operating profits

The publisher of titles across the UK and Ireland including The Mirror, Express, Irish Star and Manchester Evening News published its Full Year results today recording a 6% increase in profits on the previous year. Jim Mullen, Reach CEO, recognised successes achieved as impressive, stating the company had been anticipating results “ahead of market expectations for the year” and had achieved these.

The NUJ welcomes recognition in Mullen’s message to journalists that results achieved are through the “expertise, strength and resilience from the team”. With pay talks now underway, journalists at the company should receive a pay offer that fairly reflects their invaluable role in contributing to the company’s success. 

Reach figures reveal that although print revenue last year was down 7% on 2023 results, increases including in digital advertising where yields grew by 19% were achieved. It is crucial this year's pay award allows for the retention of the skilled and talented journalists at the company. 

Chris Morley, Reach NUJ Group Chapel national coordinator, said:

“The return to growth for Reach’s digital operations which it has put central to its business strategy - and the continued stability of print revenue - is to be welcomed in today’s announcement.

“The positive strides in digital revenue have come about on the back of the company’s journalists who were asked to significantly boost their productivity. They met that challenge and put the company back on track - that now needs to be recognised through a decent and fair annual pay settlement.

“While chief executive Jim Mullen says he is ‘very grateful’ for his employees’ efforts, that does not pay the bills for our members. He and the board need to be prepared to recognise the huge efforts being made by their journalists. To offer a sub-inflation pay cut is not going to cut the mustard.

“These full year figures show that Reach plc outperformed the City’s expectation with operating profits by once again topping £100m. At the same time the business finds itself with more room for financial manoeuvre with big savings being made on newsprint costs and the capping of payouts from the longstanding hacking legal issues. These compensation and legal bills have soaked up tens of millions of pounds over the last decade but are now disappearing from the accounts.

“References by senior executives to further 4-5% cost savings this year through ‘improved organisational efficiency’ remain a concern to our members if that were to translate into reductions in the editorial workforce – something we say could post a threat to the company’s future growth led by its journalistic excellence.

“In the past, so-called business efficiencies have sometimes meant centralisation of editorial functions with a detrimental impact to journalistic distinctiveness for the UK nations and regions. Any drive to cut costs should not damage quality specialist and local content.

“The NUJ will continue to press for a better deal for its members and to stand ready to assist them were cost savings to be sought from cuts to already stretched staffing levels.”