In the March ABCs, the Daily Mirror dropped 45,000 copies to 1,997,846. However, the figures did not show the full impact of the war in Iraq, which only moved into full swing in the early weeks of April. The Daily Mirror is thought to have dropped further in April t around the 1.9m mark.
The 6.5% drop in revenues was revealed this morning at Trinity Mirror's AGM by chairman Sir Victor Blank, who said the fall also reflected the impact of the price-cutting war.
"Group circulation revenues for the first four months of the year have fallen by 6.5% year on year, reflecting the impact of price cutting for the Daily Mirror in the first quarter, coupled with a reduced circulation performance. The cost of price cutting in the period was £5.7m, representing an increase of £4.4m over the same period in 2002," Sir Victor said.
Trinity Mirror said that advertising conditions continue to remain volatile, exacerbated by the war in Iraq and that it expected the 'uncertain external trading environment' to continue for the remainder of the year.
"Group advertising revenue for the first four months was marginally ahead of 2002. An increase of 1.4% for our national titles was offset by a fall of 1% for our regional titles, excluding Metros.
"Advertising conditions for our regional titles in London and the South East continue to be challenging -- in particular, recruitment advertising -- with year-on-year declines of 5.4% for the first four months of the year. Excluding London and the South East, the regional titles achieved advertising growth of 0.5% for the first four months of the year," he said.
Despite the slightly gloomy outlook Trinity Mirror said it was anticipating what it called 'a satisfactory outcome for the year', barring further adverse changes to trading conditions.
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