The Independent has announced a 9 per cent jump in annual turnover and the third consecutive year of profits since its switch to become a fully digital publisher.
Advertising revenues grew by 10 per cent, lifting turnover to £27m, with profits of £2.3m, figures show.
The results come as The Independent boosted spending on its editorial team by 12 per cent in its 2018-19 financial year. It now has more than 100 journalists in cities around the world, including significant investment in growing its US operation.
Revenue has almost doubled since The Independent closed its print operation four years ago to go digital-only on 27 March 2016.
Globally, the title now has an audience of 95 million unique browsers, up 22 per cent year on year, and has enjoyed a full quarter as the UK’s largest quality digital news brand, according to analytics firm Comscore.
The results show that The Independent is now more profitable than the Telegraph Media Group, which made a pre-tax profit of £900,000 in 2018. The Guardian reported last year that it had returned to profitability after a period of losses, making an operating profit of £800,000.
“Few, if any, serious, quality newspapers in the world have successfully made the transformation from print to digital only,” said John Paton, chair of Independent Digital News and Media Ltd.
“The Independent has been profitable since going all-digital and nearly four years in it continues to grow substantially on the top line.”