Trinity Mirror’s profits have declined by 12.8% to £98.1 million in the first half of 2006, with the fall attributed to the weak advertising market.
The publisher has called a review of its business to be completed by the end of the year, with some analysts saying that the review could lead to Trinity Mirror selling off its national newspaper titles.
Revenues fell by 2.2% to £566.6 million in the first half compared with the same period last year. Excluding acquisitions, revenue fell 6.6% (£38.3 million).
The figures, revealed in the publisher’s interim results released today, also show that operating profits at Trinity Mirror’s nationals division fell 12.8% to £37.4 million, while revenues fell 5.9% to £240.3 million.
Circulation revenues for national newspapers also fell, by 1.4%, with a decline of 7.4% for the Scottish nationals, although the London based nationals increased circulation by 0.3%.
Sly Bailey, chief executive, said: “The first half of 2006 proved to be a challenging trading period for the Group as conditions in the advertising environment remained poor.
“Our results should be viewed in the context of a weak advertising environment with falling GDP growth, sluggish consumer spending and rising unemployment. These market conditions are impacting all advertising categories with the exception of property advertising, where we continue to achieve marginal growth despite very tough comparables for 2005.”
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