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Booming digital revenues now make up almost 80% of sales at Auto Trader and could hasten the end of the print version of the car-classifieds magazine in 12-18 months.
Annual turnover rose only 1% to £257.2 million, but digital sales, from the web and smartphones, jumped 11% to £202 million.
Auto Trader is a rare example of a print title that transformed itself successfully into a digital brand, with operating profits before exceptionals up 9% to £129 million. Parent company Trader Media Group used that performance to let joint owners Guardian Media Group and Apax Partners take a £210 million dividend.
However, GMG and Apax had to add £150 million to TMG’s debt load.
Its pre-tax profits were £22.3 million compared to £83.5 million a year earlier.
GMG and Apax will have been keen to take a big dividend after writing down the value of another investment, magazines and events business Top Right Group.