On an underlying basis, which excludes the Lite and its minority stake in the Evening Standard, Associated's revenues were down 6% year on year.
This included an 11% underlying decrease in advertising revenues. Revenues from newspaper operations – the Daily Mail, Metro and The Mail on Sunday – and their associated websites were down 8% while AN Digital revenues were down by 13%.
In today's trading statement, Associated's parent company the Daily Mail & General Trust held out the hope of improvement for the current quarter by pointing to an uplift last month.
The statement said: "Trading in January has shown a marked improvement on last year, with advertising revenue up year on year in the newspapers and their online 'companion' sites, although, as usual, visibility on future advertising performance is very limited."
Associated's circulation revenues for the final quarter of 2009 were also down 6% on an underlying basis.
The upfront cost of investing in a subscription and home delivery initiative has been charged against circulation revenues. The initiative has contributed to an improved circulation performance at the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, DMGT said.
ABC figures for December partly bear this out, with the and .
At Northcliffe, DMGT's regional newspapers business, revenues continued to deteriorate.
Total revenues for the quarter dropped 15% to £73m, and were down 11% on an underlying basis.
Ad revenues were down 13% year on year, with recruitment advertising down 33%, while circulation revenues were down 8%.
However, because UK publishing costs have been cut 18% year on year, adjusted operating profits were up on the previous year.
At a company-wide level, DMGT quarterly revenues were down 15% to £482m, with revenues from its business-to-business operations down 20% though adjusted operating profits were higher. The B2B operations include Risk Management Solutions and DMG Information.
DMGT's share price was steady in early trading this morning, down just 0.9% to 438.6p.
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