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Revenues up at Trinity Mirror thanks to GMG deal

Trinity Mirror continues to benefit from the acquisition of GMG Regional Media titles which allowed it to see an increase in revenues of 8pc in its regional division.

The group has published an interim management statement today for the 17 weeks of trading to 1 May this year, which said the trading environment remained ‘challenging’ and it has been hit by the downturn in public sector advertising.

It shows actual revenues in the regional division increased by 8pc because of the purchase of the titles last year, which includes the Manchester Evening News, while digital revenues were up 10pc.

But on an adjusted basis which excludes the titles, advertising fell by 10pc for the period, with display falling by 5pc and classified down by 14pc.

The group’s annual shareholders’ meeting is being held today and the National Union of Journalists says it will hand out an open letter calling for explanations from management on why its workforce had been nearly halved since 2004, while chief executive Sly Bailey’s salary had increased.

The letter said: “The NUJ believes after years of cuts the morale of staff is on the floor and the jobs massacre must stop.

“The company has stabilised its financial position and appears to have debt under control, so if Trinity is to be successful in the future it needs to start the investment in the talents of its staff today.”

The group’s statement said overall recruitment advertising had fallen by 22pc but digital recruitment advertising had increased by 6pc.

There were falls in advertising revenues for property, motors and other classified advertising, which were down by 7pc, 7pc and 12pc respectively.

Digital revenues on an adjusted basis grew by 3pc, with advertising up 3pc and other revenues up by 4pc.

For Trinity Mirror as a whole, total revenues were down 6pc on an adjusted basis, while advertising revenue was down 10pc.

The statement said: “The trading environment remains challenging due to the fragile economic environment and the adverse effect of public sector spending cuts and tax increases.

“These factors continue to adversely impact the key drivers of our business, such as consumer confidence, unemployment and the property market and are contributing to revenue declines.

“In particular advertising revenues fell by 10pc during the period with public sector advertising falling by a material 47pc. However, we anticipate a reduced impact from public sector advertising declines on year on year performance for the remainder of the year.

“Whilst the trading environment remains difficult, the Group continues to benefit from ongoing management initiatives which drive efficiencies through the re-engineering of core business processes.

“As a result, the Group has increased its structural cost savings target for 2011 by £5m to £15m. In addition, the Group is making progress with its investment programme to drive revenues.”

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  • May 16, 2011 at 1:19 pm
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    I didn’t realise they still existed, about the only thing that will be left for them to cut in the near future will be the overpaid, under talented former ad rep herself.

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