NEWS Corporation’s British newspapers, including The Times and The Sun, suffered an 8 per cent fall in pre-tax profits last year, after increased costs in developing new printing facilities. The publications generated £159.4 million in income in the year to June 30, 2005, down from £173.1 million — after a period in which overall revenues were marginally ahead at £1.12 billion.

News Corp said that both newspaper circulation and advertising revenues were higher last year. The circulation improvement stemmed from the national rollout of the compact edition of The Times, offsetting declines elsewhere.

Losses, however, increased at Times Newspapers Ltd, the immediate parent of The Times and The Sunday Times, to £46.9 million, from £40 million the year before, while turnover improved 4 per cent to £416.5 million. However, the fall in profit from the newspapers — which also include the News of the World — was due to “increased depreciation and other costs associated with the development of new printing plants”.

The company is in the process of spending “in excess of £600 million” on new presses, the largest of which is at a new site in Broxbourne, north of London, replacing the facilities at Wapping, in East London, where all four titles have been based for twenty years.

News Corporation’s entire UK-based activities, which also include the HarperCollins book publishing business, produced pre-tax income before finance charges of £197.5 million, an increase of 171 per cent.

The media group, which is led by Rupert Murdoch, also owns the Fox film studio and television network in the United States, as well as satellite investments in Asia, Britain, Italy and the United States.

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