Trinity Mirror upbeat despite profit and revenue falling

NEWSPAPER group Trinity Mirror, which publishes the Birmingham Post and Mail and the Coventry Telegraph, has seen a dip in both profit and revenue.

But it has seen growth in its digital operations.

In its half yearly performance report for the 26 weeks to June 29, it revealed revenue fell by 2.3% year on year but it said there had been a gradual improvement in trends as we progressed through the first half with May and June declining by only 1.4% year on year.

Profit before tax of £48.2m was down 2.2%. Trinity Mirror said it had increased investment and absorbed an increase in newsprint prices.

There was positive news relating to the group’s digital operations. Average monthly unique users grew by 91% year on year to 61.3m and average monthly page views grew by 132% year on year to 440.2m across its publishing operations with publishing digital revenue growing by nearly 50%.

Trinity Mirror said performance in the first half was ahead of its expectations.

Net debt has fallen to £56m with the £44.2m debt maturing in June 2014 paid from operating cash flow.

Chief executive Simon Fox said: “The group continues to make good progress with the delivery of our strategic initiatives as clearly demonstrated in the performance for the first half of 2014.

“This momentum gives the board confidence that our performance for the year will be marginally ahead of expectations.

“The strengthened financial position of the business, together with continued strong cash flows, also support the board’s intention to reinstate dividends at the end of this year. This will be the first dividend paid by the group since 2008.”

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