Trinity Mirror's digital gains offset by print weakness

Both circulation and print advertising revenue fell, reflecting weaker demand for newspapers and lower marketing spending among retailers and recruiters respectively. Like-for-like print publishing turnover slumped by a tenth as a result. Comparable sales also slid 9 per cent in the smaller printing division, reflecting lower volumes and newsprint prices. But digital publishing sales rose 14 per cent to about £40m, as growing interest in Mirror Online and other news websites drove average monthly page views up 19 per cent to 770m.

Trinity Mirror streamlined operations and consolidated its management teams; it's on track to generate £15m in structural cost savings this year. Improved cash generation meant net debt more than halved, prompting management to announce up to £10m in share repurchases, although a rising pension deficit means the group has to contribute at least another £5m.

Numis lowered its forecasts to reflect uncertainty following the Brexit vote. It now expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £125m this financial year, giving EPS of 35p (from £104 and 32.8p in FY2015).