The Daily Mail & General Trust has said that it doesn't expect to see any substantial improvement in advertising revenues this year after reporting a fall in profits.

In its interim results for the six months to March 31, 2002, the group said that the advertising market remained volatile and a fall in recruitment advertising had pushed revenue down.

The group said that adjusted pre-tax profits for the six month period were £65m, a fall of nine per cent compared with the equivalent figure for the same period last year. Turnover had fallen by one per cent to £950m.

DMGT said turnover for its Northcliffe Newspapers operation, which owns more than 70 local and regional newspapers, had remained unchanged at £233m.

It said modest increases in advertising and circulation revenues were offset by its investment in editorial and marketing and by a reduced level of contract printing revenue.

To improve its daily circulation, Northcliffe has invested £3m in improving marketing and editorial, and this has resulted in growth in circulation revenues.

Combined advertising revenues were up 1.6 per cent, with the motors and property categories performing strongly.

However, recruitment advertising fell by 4.4 per cent.

As expected, a decline in contract printing has resulted in profits from this activity being £2m lower than last year.

Investment in electronic publishing fell by £1m due to 30 per cent higher revenues and lower staffing, following the completion of initial development and closer alignment with its newspapers.

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