News UK has announced a price rise on weekend editions of the Times, but has again chosen to freeze retailer terms, slashing percentage margins to well below the industry average.

A letter sent to retailers last week, seen by Better Retailing, states that from 6 July, The Times Saturday edition will increase from £3.50 to £4 and The Sunday Times from £4 to £4.50. However, stores will not see a penny of extra profit from the rise until 11 January next year.

The changes mean Saturday margins will fall from 20% to 17.5% while Sundays will drop from 20% to 17.8%. Only in January will the extra 10p cash profit per weekend edition be added, returning Saturday and Sunday copies to 20% margin.

The cut comes just a week after News UK’s chief operating officer David Dinsmore spoke to hundreds of retailers at the Fed’s Annual Conference and described falling retailer margins on newspapers as the ‘elephant in the room.’

Margin freeze

Responding to the Times margin cut, The Fed’s national president Mo Razzaq said: “Yet again, retailers are going to lose out while the publisher makes more money off the back of their hard work.”

As has been a trend for Times and Telegraph newspaper price increases over the last few years, the letter from News UK blames the margin freeze on subscription customers. It says: “Cover price changes on The Times and The Sunday Times do not immediately transfer to subscription prices. As a result, retail margins will be held at the current cash rates for a period of 6 months from 6th July 2024.

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Razzaq said: “This deferring of margins has to stop. The Times does not enjoy the same subscriber levels of other newspapers, and it is unfair to treat counter sales and subscriber sales in the same way. Not using the data available is wrong.

“With no incentive available to encourage customers to move to the subscription model, the advice to our members is to be clear to their customers when challenged, advise them that the retailer is gaining nothing from these increases now and just 10p from next year and to get them to air their dissatisfaction to the Times directly.”

The changes on The Times’ weekend editions follow just a week after a similar move by The Telegraph, giving both titles the worst retailer margins of any national newspaper sold in the UK.

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