A regional publisher has reported increased profits in what are likely to be its last set of results before it is taken over.

National World is shortly due to be bought out by Media Concierge, the Irish publisher headed by advertising boss Malcolm Denmark.

Its annual results for 2024 published on Friday showed revenues grew by £8m during the year to £96m, bouyed by a number of acquisitions.

Pre-tax profits were up from £9.6m in 2023 to £11.1m last year as both digital and print revenues grew by 7pc and 9pc respectively.

There was a small net reduction in the average number of staff employed by the group during the year – 1,156 as opposed to 1,163 in 2023.

However the group’s recent acquisitions added around 300 employees to its payroll, with a 12pc reduction in the remaining workforce.

During 2024 these included Athletics Weekly, Serious About Rugby League and The Business Magazine Group, while previous acquisitions have included the Midlands News Association, the Rotherham Advertiser and Insider Media.

Restructuring and redundancy costs across the group totalled £1.8m in 2024 compared to £3.6m in 2023, delivering annualised savings of £2.9m.

Commenting on the results, chairman David Montgomery, pictured, said: “National World has again increased profits while widening its footprint and its content offering across all platforms.

“Acquisitions and launches, including the development of TV, events and social media are driving a new sustainable model for local and national publishing.

“Revenue growth, particularly in digital, has been propelled by local video advertising, across our new World online metropolitan brands and nationalworld.com.

“Automation through AI and other efficiencies in the production areas have released resources to focus on specialised monetisable content, particularly in sport, business and lifestyle.

“We continue to progress our commitment to building the company through consolidation and innovation while constantly increasing productivity and nurturing talent.

“These good 2024 results have been achieved despite the combined headwinds of macro-economic challenge and non-trading distractions. I would like to pay tribute to all National World staff for their efforts over the period.”

In his chairman’s report, David pointed to the growth of the publisher’s footprint since its initial takeover of JPIMedia four years ago.

He wrote:  “When National World acquired the remnants of Johnston Press in January 2021 the assets were entirely regional print and online news products including the historic Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman. The portfolio was limited to five geographical areas.

“Today National World brands cover the entire UK and are present on all platforms including TV. The city and metro World brands are in all major cities including London and the Shots! TV channel has national distribution on Freeview.

“This performance has been driven by a mix of acquisition, innovation and launches. During the last year the investment in creating a sustainable and monetisable content business across all platforms has intensified.”

A National World spokesperson added: “National World has made tremendous progress since inception in terms of profitability, digital transformation and content creation.

” We are growing our appeal to a changing and ever more supportive customer base and equipping our journalists to skill up for further initiatives.

“These numbers show the ongoing potential for this group under an ambitious management team from a business assembled at a cost of £24m.”