The Sun increases cover price, retailer cash margin; Guardian likewise

Both the Monday to Friday and the Saturday editions of The Sun will see cover price increases effective Saturday 5th June. The changes will deliver an increased pence per copy margin across the six days and all percentage margins are maintained at their current rates.

The Sun Saturday edition will rise from 85p to 95p and the weekday cover price will increase from 60p to 65p.

The retailer profit on the Saturday edition will go from 18.2p to 20.3p (a 2.1p rise) and the weekday margin will change from 13.4p to 14.5p (a 1.1p rise).

The combined price changes are forecast to deliver an extra £12.9m in revenue through retailers’ tills and an additional £2.8m in margin over the next 12 months.

News UK also announced new features for the tabloid, including:

● Euro 2020 — Jose Mourinho will be writing columns for The Sun across the tournament, bringing his unique viewpoint and providing expert analysis to key matches. Jose will form part of a major marketing campaign for The Sun, celebrating the tournament and what it means to families this summer.

● Superdays — On the back of the first four Sun Superdays of the year the summer-long offer will continue of free tickets to Shrek’s Adventure, London Dungeons, Madame Tussauds, Warwick Castle and Sea Life Aquariums via code collection in paper.

● Hols from £9.50 — July will see the return of Hols from £9.50, giving Sun readers the opportunity to snap up a bargain  holiday in the UK or across Europe, via code collection in paper.

● New columnists — in addition to Jose, Ulrika Jonsson has started a new Saturday column.

● Saturday TV Mag — a “bigger and better” version to be launched across the summerwith exclusive interviews, previews of the best of TV, and additional streaming listings, plus a monthly bumper edition on the hottest must-see topic.

Independent retailers welcome Guardian and Sun announcements

The Federation of Independent Retailers (NFRN) has welcomed the decision by News UK and that made by GNM to retain the cash margins for retailers as it has also been announced the price of the Guardian and Observer will increase from Saturday June 5.

The weekday Guardian cover price wiill increase to £2.50, while the Saturday Guardian and Sunday Observer will go up to £3.50.

The new GNM retailer cash margins are as follows:

Monday to Friday Guardian 55p; Saturday Guardian 77p and Sunday Observer 85.7p.

NFRN National President Stuart Reddish said: “This is great news. When publishers put the prices of their titles up, there is always a danger that retailers will suffer because of reduced profits. But it is pleasing to see that GNM and News UK recognise the efforts of independent retailers to keep the news trade going during what has been an unprecedented and extremely difficult year for our industry.”