Trinity Mirror Restructures Management, Reports Profits Up 15%
Pre-tax profits of £104m at the UK’s largest regional newspaper group, Trinity Mirror, were this morning overshadowed by the announcement of the resignation of group managing director, Roger Eastoe (left). A management restructure ensued which included the creation of a new senior executive position.
Eastoe is to leave the company at the end of this month to pursue “a number of business opportunities”, according to a statement released this morning. Mike Masters, group managing director of publishing in the UK and Ireland, is also set to leave the company, taking early retirement at the end of the year.
Philip Graf said the new role, which is yet to be filled, “marks an important evolution in the development of our senior management team, bringing a dedicated strategic and operational focus to this key area of our business for the first time.” The new member will focus on the development of the group’s newspapers and assets and accelerate the group’s strategy.
A number of other management changes have also occurred in the group’s newspaper divisions.
Reporting an increase in pre-tax profits of almost 15% in interim results for the six month period ending 2 July, chairman Sir Victor Blank said, “we have made good progress in realising the two most important business goals of the group, being the successful integration of the two former businesses (see Trinity And Mirror Seal Merger In £2bn Deal) and the implementation of our digital media strategy.”
The group’s new media arm is progressing well and £50m investment is planned for the year. Its ultimate aim is to create a UK portal uniting national content and regional sites on an integrated network. The first of the central portals, icshowbiz, will launch in October and two further portals will join it by the end of the year; the regional sites will gradually migrate to the integrated network (see Trinity Announces Positive Trading Report, Enhances ic24 Network).
The buoyant advertising growth across national newspapers seen during the first half of this year has begun a slowdown during the second half, compared to strong growth in 1999. Regional operations are still continuing to experience strong ad revenue, however.
Turnover at the company was up 7.4% at £560m.
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