The Financial Times’s global profits have risen to almost £30m after the newspaper’s subscriber numbers surged to a record 1.4m.
The City broadsheet’s global profits rose to £29.9m in 2023, up 5pc on the previous year, according to unaudited internal figures seen by The Telegraph.
Revenues also rose to £510m – up from £458m and the first time the media group has topped half a billion pounds.
It came as the FT’s total subscriber base increased to a new record high of 1.4m last year, boosted by a 17pc rise in paying digital readers.
The growth was driven primarily by corporate subscriptions and helped to offset a 7pc decline in print readership as audiences continue to move online.
The London-based newspaper, which is owned by Japanese media giant Nikkei, makes a significant proportion of its revenue overseas and employs 2,700 people worldwide.
However, it does not publish global figures, as these are rolled up into Nikkei’s accounts.
Strong global growth comes even as the FT suffered a slump in profits in its home market.
The financial title, dubbed the “pink ’un”, reported a pre-tax profit of £3.9m in the UK for 2023, down by more than 40pc from £6.8m the previous year.
Bosses said the squeeze on profits followed a jump in its wage bill after the company hired more journalists and dished out bonuses.
Staff costs rose by more than £15m to £166.4m as the company hired almost 80 additional employees last year, according to newly-filed accounts.
The FT also handed staff a one-off payment of £2,000, which it said was in recognition of escalating financial pressures. That followed a similar cost of living bonus of £1,800 in 2022.
In the accounts, it said: “The company has sought to balance employee compensation with the longer term needs of operating a sustainable business which resulted in a further cost of living payment to support employees.”
Pay increases in the UK come after the media group clashed with US staff over pay and conditions.
Members of the US guild staged a strike over the summer after complaining that their salaries – while higher than those in the UK – did not match the higher cost of living in America.
Staff have also hit out at the high pay packets handed to top executives including John Ridding, the chief executive.
The accounts showed that the group’s highest-paid director took home just over £1.8m last year – a small increase on the previous year.
