Daily Sport publisher in profit despite circulation slide

Sport Media Group, publisher of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport, said today that while the business ended the year in profit, daily circulation of its tabloids had decreased since peaking in August. SMG, which was bailed out in April by its former owner David Sullivan – who completed his takeover of football club West Ham with David Gold this month – said that trading in the five months to the end of December "continued to be encouraging". "Although daily circulation of the newspaper failed to hold the peak levels of August, they remained above budget and the group traded profitably for the period," the company said in a trading update. "The board is confident that 2010 will see profitability recover further." SMG had a tough start to 2009 with plummeting circulation leading to the company resigning its Audit Bureau of Circulations membership in March . The publisher said that sales hit their "nadir" in March with the Daily Sport rebounding to 85,000 copies a day sales between Monday and Friday in early August. Sales of the Daily Sport on Saturday have also climbed from a low of about 45,000 to about 55,000 at that time. Sales of the Sunday Sport were about 76,000 at that time. SMG breached a banking covenant last year and ultimately Sullivan, who sold the newspapers to SMG in September 2007 for about £40m, and Gold Group International stepped in with a £1.68m loan, taking a 9.99% stake . The company today announced the appointment of Martin Robinson, the chairman of management and finance group Braemar, as non-executive deputy chairman of SMG. He is to become chairman following the next annual general meeting. "I feel confident that, with the extensive positions Martin has held, he will bring to us a wealth of expertise and knowledge as we continue to grow the business and move forward with the ever-changing economic climate," said the chairman, David Bailey. Robert Johnson, a senior SMG executive, has been appointed as executive director. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".