Trinity Mirror buoyed by better national ad revenue figures

LONDON - Trinity Mirror's ad outlook appears to be improving, with the company forecasting the ad spend earned by its national papers will be down just 5% in November.

Trinity Mirror: national papers showing improving ad spend figures
Trinity Mirror: national papers showing improving ad spend figures

Unveiling an interim management statement covering the 17 weeks to 25 October, it said ad revenue for its regional papers would be down around 22% in November.

While still a big drop, this marks an improvement from earlier in the year: Trinity Mirror's regional arm posted a 35% drop in ad revenue in the first half of this year.

Group advertising revenue in the year to date fell 25%, reflecting a decline of 28% for the first half and 20% for the 17 weeks to 25 October.

At its regionals division, ad revenue fell 32% over the year to date. Within this, display ad spend was down 13%, recruitment down 48%, property down 34%, motors down 32% and other classified categories were down 20% in the period. At its nationals division, ad revenue fell by 11% over year to date.

However, its digital revenues are falling, by 19% over the year to date, with a decline of 19% at its regional digital operations and 17% for its national digital arm. "The declines in digital revenues reflect the cyclical impact on the core recruitment and property revenues," it said. Excluding recruitment and property revenues, the company said digital revenues rose 26% in the year to date.

Looking ahead, the company said: "Although trading conditions have remained difficult since the half-year, with continued pressure on revenues from the poor economic environment, we have seen an improvement in the rate of decline in revenues.

"While the trading environment will continue to be challenging over the remainder of the year and into 2010, we anticipate that the rate of decline in revenues will continue to improve."

Its net debt fell by £24m to £324m.

 

 

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