France’s The Figaro Group plans to spend an estimated 30 million Euros (A$46.7 million) building its audiovisual and regional offerings following a bumper year in which turnover rose 15 per cent.

The 2022 results – turnover of 570 million Euros taking it back to 2019 levels – are partly thanks to digitalisation, which now accounts for 60 per cent of its activities.

This year, 1500 staff are to move from the Boulevard Haussmann head office to a new location – either to a building acquired in the 9th arrondissement of Paris or its second largest premises in the 15th arrondissement – but managing director Marc Feuillée (pictured) says 2023 “will also be the year of major investments”.

The 30 million Euros budget includes a new content management system, a CRM overhaul in marketing and investment in regional operations. Le Figaro has recently opened offices in Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes and Nice.

“The most visible investment will of course be in audiovisual development with the launch of a terrestrial TV channel, Le Figaro TV, and a digital radio station, Le Figaro Radio,” he said. Details of the project with partner Secom are to be announced in March.

Feuillée says that while the daily paper and its magazines have been affected by “unprecedented” increases in the price of paper – contributing 15 million Euros of extra costs last year – they have “done more than just resist the impact of this price rise” and are managing to stablilise their results thanks to a new increase in their income from advertising.

Le Figaro and its website Lefigaro.fr now has 400,000 subscribers of all types, of whom 270,000 are purely digital subscribers, a rise of eight per cent.

The further diversification will see the Figaro brand present on all fronts, with a solid presence in all information channels and in all formats, Feuillée says.