Revenue in Trinity Mirror Regionals has fallen by 28.2pc, the company announced today.

A half-yearly financial report, for the 26-week period ending 28 June 2009, showed revenue had dropped by £61m to £155.4m.

Print revenues were down 29.3pc while digital activities fell 16.9pc in the regionals division compared with the same period last year.

Operating profit for print activities dropped by 66pc, from £39.7m to £13.5m, and digital activities by 34.5pc, from £5.8m to £3.8m.

The regionals division recorded a total operating profit of £17.3m, a drop from £45.5m on the same period last year.

Costs were reduced by £32.8m from £170.9m to £138.1m which has been through measures such as closing unprofitable weekly newspapers and rolling out a new operating model in editorial, advertising and production departments.

Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey said: “The economic slowdown continued to impact our business throughout the period.

“However, a combination of prudent cost reduction measures, the introduction of cutting edge IT systems driving new, more efficient ways of publishing, stable financing and more resilient circulation revenue continues to support profitability and positions the business for post recession growth.

“Our cost actions to date have already contributed to the absolute cost base falling by £46 million in the first half and we would expect costs for the full year to fall by £65 million.

“Our tight cost management coupled with the strength of our products across media will ensure that the Group delivers positive cash flow from our operations for the full year and provide the Board with confidence that performance for 2009 will be in line with its expectations.”