Trinity Mirror advertising revenues slump
Monday, 10 December 2001Trinity Mirror, Britain's largest regional newspaper group which owns the Sunday Business Post, said its advertising revenues have fallen sharply since the September 11 attacks on the US and were expected to get worse.
Advertising revenues at Trinity's national titles were down 21% year-on-year in November, the worst month this year, having fallen 10% in October, a spokesman said.
While regional titles fared better, with revenue down 2.3% and 2.9% in October and November, its Scottish papers were also badly hit - down 13% and 17% lower in October and November.
'The early outlook for December which, in normal trading circumstances, is a difficult month to predict, indicates a continuation of the deterioration,' Trinity said in a statement.
Analysts said Trinity was suffering in part from the fact that currently healthy levels of consumer spending meant advertisers were not seeing 'the usual Christmas boost'.
Trinity said while display advertising has been badly affected, classified advertising within its national titles was still growing year-on-year.
Trinity said it expected the price of newsprint, which accounts for around a fifth of its costs, would fall next year and it was in talks with its suppliers. Trinity said it was cutting its annual spending on digital media to £10 million from January.
