Advertising revenue climbs at Trinity Mirror

LONDON - Signs of advertising recovery continue to appear as Trinity Mirror, despite a 2.5% fall in the third quarter, reported ad revenues were up 0.3% in the first two months of the fourth quarter.

In a trading statement, the Daily Mirror publisher said that the improvement in advertising revenues was across Trinity Mirror's business.

The three national newspaper titles saw advertising grow in the third quarter by 0.5% year on year, despite the highly competitive Sunday tabloid market. October advertising revenues declined by 1.7% but this has been followed by growth of 5.7% in November.

Trinity Mirror said that the performance continues to be driven by strong retail advertising, with third-quarter growth in this sector of 38.3% and over 20% growth during October and November. December is expected to deliver overall advertising performance ahead of November.

The regional newspaper business is also performing well with advertising revenues for the year so far are up 1.2%, with recruitment advertising up 2.6% with a small improvement over October and November is expected in December.

The improved advertising picture will make welcome reading for the group's new chief executive Sly Bailey, the IPC Media chief who was named as the surprise successor to Philip Graf on Tuesday.

The group said that revenues grew marginally by 0.6% in November with recruitment up by 1.4%. It said this compared with a year-on-year fall of 2.4% in the third quarter and 2.5% in the first half.

In a statement, Trinity Mirror said: "The clear strategic approach to our main businesses -- together with vigorous cost control, further reduction in digital media investment, lower interest rates and our strong cash flows -- has limited the impact that the difficult advertising and economic conditions might otherwise have had on our underlying performance, which remains in line with our expectations."

Trinity Mirror said that its operations in the North of England, South Wales, Ireland and Scotland, where it owns the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, all continue to do well and act as a balance to the tougher West Midlands and Southern markets. Trading conditions in London and the South East, it said, remain difficult.

Trinity Mirror has said that its Paul Burrell exclusive led to a 3.4% rise in circulation at the Daily Mirror for November, as it claimed that its marketing push was making progress for the title.

However, the company admitted that circulation for its flagship newspaper had fallen 2.3% year on year in the July-to-November period. The Daily Mirror has been fighting a bloody circulation war with The Sun, which it is widely seen to have lost. However, its exclusive interviews with Burrell, the former butler to Princess Diana, paid off for the title.

Bailey will join Trinity Mirror at difficult time for the group. Despite the relaunch, the Daily Mirror has not improved to the degree expected, and some investors have been pushing for a sale of the paper. In today's trading statement, the company tried to position the relaunch as a success, saying: "Our integrated marketing strategy for the two Mirror titles to sharpen the brand and over time to increase frequency of purchase continues to make progress."

Shares in the company fell when the market opened this morning, down by 0.96% or 4p to 414.5p. Earlier in the week, the price was on the rise, climbing by 0.95% on Tuesday, following Bailey's appointment, and up by 2.7% yesterday.

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