This week News International has increased the price of the Monday to Friday Sun to 40p. This will have brought relief to newsagents as they will benefit from a prorate margin rise of 2.32p per copy. A 33% increase in price is a bold move as the previous retail profit per copy was the same as it was in 1999, 6.96p.

This sort of rise prompts a question or two such as will Sun buyers accept the extra 10p per day for their favoured newspaper? If they do the extra retailer margin will add nearly £60,000 to news retailers’ profitability per day or £15 million annually.

The second question is will the Daily Star follow the Sun’s example?