Sharewatch: Trinity Boosted Ahead Of Impressive Results

Newspaper giant Trinity Mirror was a firm favourite on trading floors yesterday, rising by 2.39% to close at 599˝p ahead of the company’s interim results released this morning.

The publisher has seen pre-tax profits rise by 27% from £80.4 million £101.8 million in the first half of the year, while advertising revenue grew by 5% overall. Turnover rose by 6% from £542.1 million to £572.7 million in the same period.

Elsewhere, Emap managed a slight increase on its share price, rising by 0.07% as the company announced a revamped format for its Bliss magazine. The updated title will feature more grown-up content to appeal to fickle teenagers in an ever competitive market (see Bliss Gets A Facelift To Compete In Tricky Teen Market).

ITV also rose by 0.72p to finish at 105p. Yesterday the company announced a sponsorship deal with Yellow Pages to cover its new reality programme, The Block, which follows four couples who have been given £250,000 to renovate a block of flats whilst under round-the-clock surveillance (see ITV Sales Signs Deal To Put Yellow Pages On The Block).

The FTSE 100 gained 0.7% to close at 4,356.2 yesterday, due mainly to rises amongst mining stocks. The FTSE 250 added 0.2% to its total, closing at 5,963.

The closing prices of media company shares on Wednesday were: