Regional media business Archant has announced that its operating profits more than doubled in 2010 as it continued to seek efficiencies.

In a preliminary statement to shareholders, chairman Richard Jewson said group operating profit for the year was £8.2m – up 157pc on the 2009 figure of £3.2m.

The group’s newspaper revenues for the year fell 5.9pc to £92.6m, in part due to a significant reduction in public sector advertising, whilst its magazines saw revenues increase 3pc to £44.9m.

Overall turnover fell by 1.9pc to £139.3m from £142m the previous year.

Mr Jewson said: “The impact of digital media on our traditional business has grown rapidly since broadband became mainstream and the economic downturn, which started in 2008, has served to accelerate that pace of change.

“Archant has faced the challenges presented by diversifying and repositioning its portfolio of media assets, by pursuing efficiencies, and by accelerating its business development activities to take advantage of the opportunities created.

“Digital revenue has grown throughout this difficult period, and we fully expect this to continue, as new initiatives are introduced and bear fruit.

“A notable achievement was that two of our daily newspaper titles and half the paid for weekly titles outside London achieved circulation growth in the second half of 2010 as compared to 2009. In England our two Norfolk daily titles, in terms of circulation, were the best performing regional newspapers whilst all four daily regional titles were in the top eight,” he added.

Archant’s AGM takes place at 12 noon on Wednesday 13 April at the John Innes Centre, on the Norwich Research Park.