Regional publisher Newsquest’s advertising revenues were down 4.7pc in the last quarter of 2012, its parent company’s latest financial statement has revealed.

The company’s US owner Gannett has published figures from the last three months of 2012 which show Newsquest’s total advertising revenues were down 4.7pc year-on-year.

Its classified advertising revenues fell by 5.3pc compared to the same period last year, with motors advertising down 5.8pc, employment advertising down 0.7pc and property down 9.1pc.

But its digital revenues did show a growth of 8.8pc and the statement said Newsquest’s websites attracted 76m monthly page impressions from around 10.1m unique users in December.

Victoria Dux Harker, Gannett’s chief financial officer, said in a conference call about the results, that Newsquest’s rising online revenues were “demonstrating the strength of the digital offerings tailored to their own customer needs.”

Gannett’s publishing division overall saw operating revenues increase by 3.7pc to $1.04bn, while advertising revenues were down 2pc year-on-year to $657.5m.

Gannett CEO Gracia Martore said: “Our strategy is gaining momentum, our investments are bearing fruit and we are achieving the results we expected. We enter 2013 with our businesses performing well and poised for even greater success going forward.

“We remain confident we are well positioned to achieve our goals and to continue delivering on our promise to return increased value to shareholders.”

The figures released by Gannett about Newsquest are not as detailed as those supplied by some other regional publishers.

For instance, the company has not released actual figures for advertising revenue for its Newsquest division, only the percentage change, and neither has it published a figure for overall revenues.