The newspaper publisher, which is considering closing The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, was caught out by the dollar’s rapid rise against sterling which led to a £24m loss.

The investments were made out of a £200m investment fund designed to spread GMG’s risk away from volatile advertising markets.

Sources said the fund was never intended to make a profit in its first year and the losses were the result of a ”mark to market” valuation at the end of March. However, the scale of losses from derivatives investments, which contributed to a £90m annual group loss, will alarm its left-leaning readership.