Trinity Mirror enjoys Sunday boost but ad revenues make bleak reading

TRINITY MIRROR said yesterday that the dramatic shutdown of the News of the World has been a shot in the arm for its Sunday newspaper titles.

It came as Trinity, whose titles include the Sunday Mirror, the Scottish Sunday Mail and the Daily Record, posted a 24 per cent slide in interim operating profits from 61 million to 47.1m.

Underlying revenues fell nearly 7 per cent to 339m in the six months to 3 July, while chief executive Sly Bailey said the company had suffered a 24 per cent drop in public sector advertising and faced sharply rising newsprint costs.

She said Trinity's annual cost savings target had been hiked by a further 10m to 25m and said the trading climate remained testing.

The group said underlying advertising revenues fell 11 per cent in the latest trading period "which has been much weaker than anticipated".

But Bailey said the group was "highly encouraged" by the strong circulation volume growth in its Sunday titles in the wake of News Corporation closing down the News of the World last month after the scandal surrounding the phone-hacking of crime victims. Trinity said group circulation revenues were up 2 per cent in July following the shutdown of the NoW, with its national titles up 4 per cent.

The Sunday Mirror gained 64 per cent in circulation between June and July, according to independent figures released yesterday by media measurement organisation ABC. This makes it the most popular Sunday tabloid with a circulation of 1.8 million.

The Scottish Sunday Mail gained 14 per cent to 410,000, while the People gained 70 per cent to 810,000. It was not such a positive picture on circulation volumes in the previous six month period, however, with the Daily Record down 5.7 per cent, the Sunday Mail off 7.9 per cent, and Sunday Mirror 4.8 per cent.

Trinity also faces questions about its own newsgathering practices from court cases expected to be filed in the near future and a judge-led review of the British media.

The company said yesterday that it had received written confirmation from its current senior editorial executives that they had not engaged in phone-hacking or police bribery.

Bailey said this applied only to current staff, as the group had no power to force ex-employees to answer questions.

Former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan has said publicly that he had listened to a voicemail message left by Paul McCartney for his estranged wife, Heather Mills. Morgan has since said that he has never hacked a phone, told anyone to do so, or published a story based on phone-hacking.

Trinity's interim pre-tax profits slid 17 per cent to 41.9m, in a period when it cut over 180 posts. The company said there were no plans for new big job cuts.The group said it had decided not to declare a dividend "until there is an improvement in the trading environment".

Trinity's shares closed up, with analysts citing the deeper costcutting and the boon to the company of the NoW's closure.