Sharewatch: Trinity Down Ahead Of Optimistic Update

Newspaper giant Trinity Mirror suffered a dip in share price yesterday, losing 0.56% to close at 622p ahead of a trading update issued this morning reassuring investors that the company is performing in line with expectations to deliver revenue increases across the board.

According to the company, group advertising revenues for the 5 months to November have increased by 4.2% year on year. Trinity also state that its regional newspaper division has achieved advertising revenue growth of 4.5% year on year with all categories but motoring showing growth.

Elsewhere, magazine heavyweight Emap saw its share price drop by 2.39% to close at 818˝p. Yesterday saw the Advertising Standards Authority chastise the publisher for claiming that its Zoo Weekly title was “The Biggest Men’s Weekly”, a claim which failed to stand up when compared to rival IPC’s Nuts (see Emap Finds Size Does Matter In Nuts Contest).

WPP continued its downward spiral, losing 0.44% to close at 567p despite assurances from chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell that the company is on track to perform well throughout the next year and 2006.

The FTSE 100 lost 24.8 points to close at 4,703.9 yesterday, while the FTSE 250 struggled against the downward trend, losing 3.9 points to close at 6,657.6.

The closing prices of media company shares on Wednesday were: