The Guardian is weighing up the option of becoming a tabloid newspaper and outsourcing its printing operations to one of its big rivals, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Publisher Guardian Media Group (GMG) said in 2016 that it would need to save 20 per cent to stem underlying losses that widened to £62.6m for the year to 3 April and that it was aiming to break even in three years, according to the news agency.

"The company is working on a whole range of efficiency projects and the print programme fits into that," one source close to the company told Reuters.

A separate source told Reuters that GMG was thinking about the option of moving production to Rupert Murdoch’s News UK's presses later this year, and change the format to a tabloid in doing so.

GMG is owned by The Scott Trust, created in 1936 to safeguard its flagship newspaper.