Trinity Mirror's year of reflection

Trinity's print sales slid 6 per cent as print advertising and circulation revenues both slumped. But the group's new 'digital first' editorial structure helped it attract an average of 73m monthly unique users across its desktop, mobile and app offerings, fuelling a 48 per cent increase in digital advertising revenue. And that trend looks set to continue: the number of unique monthly users hit a record 100m in January.

Trinity stomached £14m in restructuring charges, and recently tripled its provision for the costs of phone-hacking claims to £12m. But it delivered £15m in cost savings and expects to save a further £10m this year. Best of all, it also managed to slash net debt by four-fifths as a result of strong underlying cash flow and £16m in dividends from associates. Management consequently plans to up the dividend to 5p this year.

Management expects top-line growth to suffer after the recent closure of several regional titles and continuing print declines. Broker Numis expects adjusted pre-tax profit and EPS to fall to £100m and 32p, respectively in 2015 (from £102m and 32.8p in 2014).