Trinity Mirror hit by 7.9% ad slump

by Caitlin Fitzsimmons, Media Week 15-Dec-05, 11:09

Trinity Mirror has suffered a sharp tumble in advertising revenue for the second half of 2005, with its national portfolio the worst hit.

The newspaper publisher, which has issued a trading update ahead of its preliminary results in March, reported a 7.9% year-on-year fall in group advertising revenues, excluding acquisitions, for the five months to November 2005.

The performance for the 11 months to November 2005 was slightly better, with a year-on-year drop of 3.8%.

The regional portfolio, which includes the Liverpool Echo and the Birmingham Post & Mail, experienced a 4.9% year-on-year drop for the five months to November 2005. Recruitment advertising fell by 20.5% but property advertising was up by 6.4%.

The national portfolio, which includes the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the People, was hammered by a 14.4% year-on-year drop.

The Scottish national titles, which include the Daily Record, experienced a 10.1% fall in revenue compared with the 15.9% decline for the UK national titles.

Advertising revenues for the sports division and the magazines and exhibitions division fell by 11.2% and 9.1% respectively for the same period.