The Sun rising to 30p in south-east

by John Reynolds, Media Week 18-Jul-08, 14:45

LONDON - The Sun is to up its weekday cover price to 30p in London and the south-east from Monday as parent News International looks to increase the red-top's newsstand revenues.

The group's flagship red-top reduced its cover price from 35p to 20p across London and the south-east in September last year in a move designed to maintain its circulation above the three million mark.

The Sun, according to ABC, recorded its fifth successive year-on-year circulation increase in June, when it registered a circulation of 3,089,321 copies, despite it increasing its discounted cover price in London and the south-east to 25p in May. However its month-on-month circulation fell by 1.9%.

Around 66% of The Sun's circulation was sold at the full cover price of 35p in June.

The Saturday edition of the red-top remains priced at 55p across the country.

News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun and the News of the World, suffered a 9% drop in pre-tax profits, according to results for the year to June 30 2007 filed at Companies House in June.