Trinity Mirror bears brunt of slowdown: ad revenues dip

Trinity Mirror bears brunt of slowdown: ad revenues dip

	Published : Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:05 By : Paula Demarzio Print this Story

LONDON: Shrinking press ad budgets have hit the earnings of Trinity Mirror which said it now aimed for cost cuts up to £15m.

In a trading statement yesterday, the UK’s largest newspaper publisher said advertising revenues continued their downturn affecting many national newspapers such as the Daily Mirror. The declines were seen also in regional recruitment ads.

The publisher reported a 7.9 percent drop (year-on-year) in total advertising revenues excluding acquisitions during the five months to November. The rate of decline was slightly better at 3.8 percent in the eleven months from January to November.

The recruitment and appointment ad pages registered a sharp drop of 20.5 percent while overall ad revenues at its regional papers dropped 4.9 percent (y-o-y). The publisher’s sports pages, magazines and exhibition divisions also bore the brunt with the former sliding 11.2 percent and the latter down by 9.1 percent. The Daily Mirror’s overall revenues from advertising also declined 14.4 percent.

While the slowdown on high street may ease up a bit for Christmas, the publisher group is not so upbeat about overall advertising revenues. In addition, the group found circulation dipping 0.3 percent at the Daily Mirror over the past five months. It has been forced to cut jobs at some of its regional titles

However, despite the declines, the publisher made no changes to its previous earnings forecast expected next month. The dips in advertising revenues could be compensated by the 6.4 percent y-o-y growth in property advertising.

The government’s more liberal stance towards alcohol licensing also helped to some extent, Trinity said. The group appears to be on track to make about £200 million in profits before tax for the full year, according to analysts.

The statement yesterday also warns “of inflationary and other costs in 2006, including higher newsprint prices” suggesting the tough trading environment will continue into next year.