In the same period last year it was in the black with pre-tax profits of £2.48m.
According to a statement from the Eastern Daily Press publisher, total revenue during the first six months of 2011 was £67.3m, down 4% year on year.
Operating profit before amortisation of intangible assets and exceptional items was £2.6m, down £4.4m or 62.9%.
Archant said despite the poor economy it expected better performance in the second half of the year as it transforms its "traditional businesses for the changing world".
Archant said turnover at its newspaper and printing business, excluding acquisitions, was £44.9m representing a decline of 7.2% year on year and due principally to falling print advertising revenues which decreased 13.2%.
The magazine division of Archant fared better as revenues increased by 2.8% to £22.3m. Archant said property advertising revenues climbed 11.9% year on year and subscription revenue rose by 1.4%.
Richard Jewson, chairman of Archant, said: "We are transforming our traditional businesses for the changing world and developing new businesses, taking full advantage of changes in technology.
"We are not waiting for the economy to improve to take action, and provided there is no further deterioration in our markets, we expect better profits in the second half to achieve our forecast for this year and to achieve growth in profits in 2012.
Archant publishes four daily regional newspapers and around 60 weekly titles. During the period Archant expanded its digital offer with daily deals site tickles.co.uk and group buying site 40Winks.co.uk and re-launched the homes24 online property site.
Digital revenues grew by 3.3% year on year to £3.1m in the first six months, with digital display up 10.9%. Archant said unique visitors grew by more than a third to 3.6 million per month which it attributed in part to increasing use of social media.
Jewson said: "The economy remains fragile, and it is simply not possible to predict when an upturn may be seen, or indeed whether the UK economy will fall back into recession.
"But we continue to invest in the development of our people and new products while seeking to improve the efficiency of all our processes."
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