Regional publisher Archant has announced a fall in revenues of just under 25pc for the first six months of the year.

The Norwich-based company, which owns the Eastern Daily Press and a host of other daily and weekly titles in East Anglia, London and the South West, posted a profit of £5m in the half-year to June.

It represented a 61pc fall in profits from a figure of £13.1m in the first half of 2008, while revenues declined 24pc from £93.6m to £70.8m.

The interim results also revealed that Archant has so far made £14.8m worth of cost cuts in the year so far.

Chairman Richard Jewson said: “Our management have responded strongly in the extraordinary market conditions by focussing on innovative ways of stimulating new and existing revenue streams, reducing operating costs by £14.8m and preserving cash, while seeking new ways to develop our digital businesses.

“We have also made capital investment of £2m in the final stages of the Thorpe Press extension and in our IT systems.”

Newspaper advertising revenues fell 29.5pc, while turnover for the company’s lifestyle magazines division was down 22pc.

But total digital revenues increased by 18.9pc while average monthly unique visitors to all Archant websites grew by 48.6pc to 2.4m per month.