Trinity Mirror is seeing a return to earnings growth in the first half of the year, due to improving market conditions and continuing cost control across the company as a whole, its interim figures revealed today.

Revenues at the regional newspapers were down 3.6 per cent, from £243m to £234.3m, with operating profit for the regional division as a whole down from £61.2m to £55.6m.

The operating profit slip at the regional newspaper titles was partially offset by improvements from Metro titles and the digital media activities, with internet operating profits increasing by 71.9 per cent from £3.2m to £5.5m

Hyper local websites have been a key development with five more planned soon.

And more than £450m is expected in the next three months from the sale of regional newspapers in the midlands and sale of sports titles, on top of £92.9m for weekly titles already sold in the south east, although the total figure could be £150m less than originally anticipated, due to the costs incurred during the long sale process.

Digital businesses across the group have achieved strong underlying revenue growth of 23.7 per cent with regionals growing by 25.4 per cent and Nationals growing by 16.8 per cent.

The regional division as a whole is making progress through the launch of new print titles, new events and exhibitions and a number of online launches including 15 hyper local websites targeting specific postcodes. A further five hyper local sites are scheduled for launch in the coming months.

Circulation revenue was up slightly, by 0.7 per cent, with a decline in print advertising revenue improving on the 2006 figure of 10.1 per cent to a drop of 3.6 per cent. The revenue growth of the digital platforms represented good growth across existing and acquired businesses, with unique users up by more than 40 per cent during the first half to 2.9m. Group revenues as a whole fell by £1.9m to £526.3m, with tight cost management contributing to an operating profits boost of £6.1m to £109.4m.

Total operating costs fell by £9.1m (2.1 per cent) from £426.1m to £417m despite a five per cent increase in the price of newsprint and other inflationary increases in costs. Group profit before tax increased by £6.8m (7.4 per cent) from £91.4m to £98.2m.

Cost savings of £6m remain on target to achieve at least £10m in the full year.

Chief executive Sly Bailey said the company was also expecting market conditions to further improve.

She said: “We remain confident that the reorganisation we have started following the 2006 Business Review, the strength of our portfolio and our growing success at building and acquiring digital assets will all contribute to growth as the current cyclical advertising downturn comes to an end.

“Looking ahead, the progress of our multi-platform strategy coupled with improving trends in our advertising markets gives us confidence in our ability to drive further growth and to deliver value for our shareholders.”