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The Daily Mail and General Trust DMGT has reported an 11 per cent increase in annual adjusted pre-tax profits.

In a statement the media group confirmed such profits increased to £288 million in the year to September 30th – up from the £260 million reported for the previous 12 months.

Meanwhile in a separate note the company announced the planned retirement of its current chief executive Charles Sinclair.

Mr Sinclair will have spent 21 years in the role by the time he leaves the company next September and will be replaced by the current managing director of DMGT's business information division, Martin Morgan.

The DMGT said its key newspaper titles had continued to outperform rivals in terms of both circulation and advertising revenues – although the circulation of its key Daily Mail title fell by 1.8 per cent over the year.

Overall revenues for the group climbed three per cent, rising from £2,176 million to £2,235 million over the year.

Circulation revenues from the company's national titles grew by one per cent to £378 million, while the DMGT said its local media division had performed well despite its revenues remaining flat.

The group also saw advertising revenues increase by eight per cent over the year, with display advertising enjoying higher growth than traditional print advertising.

However commenting on the results, DMGT chairman Viscount Rothermere attributed the group's performance to its strategy of developing interests other than its core press operations.

As such over 50 per cent of the group's operating profits came from operations other than its newspaper publishing business over the year.

"This strategy of investing for the long term growth of the business has resulted in another record year, generating a premium return for shareholders," said Viscount Rothermere.

"It demonstrates the benefit of our diversified portfolio of market-leading business and consumer products," he added.