Trinity Mirror hit by writedown of regional titles

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 02-Aug-07, 09:00

LONDON - Trinity Mirror has made a pre-tax loss of £70.4m for the first half of the year, after writing down the value of some of its regional newspapers by £150m and experiencing a slight drop in ad revenues.

The writedown covers the Midlands, South East and London titles that Trinity has been in the process of selling; it admitted the proceeds will be less than it originally expected. It has raised £92.9m so far.

Group revenues were down by 4.1% to £500.5m and group ad revenues were down by 1.4% to £285.7m.

The company's adjusted results, which exclude the writedown, show its pre-tax profits were up 7.4% to £98.2m and revenues were down 0.4% to £526.3m.

The company said it remains confident that its business reorganisation, the strength of its portfolio and its success at building and acquiring digital assets will all contribute to growth as the current cyclical advertising downturn comes to an end.

Its national newspaper division, which includes the Daily Mirror, experienced a 2.3% drop in ad revenues and a 16.7% increase in digital revenues to £1.4m.

The regional newspaper division earned ad revenues of £198.1m, down 1.4%.

Sly Bailey, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, said: "I am pleased to be able to announce a return to profit growth in the first half of the year. This is due to a combination of improving market conditions together with our continued focus on portfolio development and stringent cost control."

The company is still in the process of disposing of its sports division, which includes The Racing Post.