Accelerated cost savings fail to halt Trinity Mirror revenue slide in third quarter
Trinity Mirror revenues have slumped by 8% over the third quarter, extending a run of declines which saw revenues fall by 9% in the first half – despite aggressive structural cost savings of £20m being made; £5m more than called for by initial targets.
Accelerated cost savings fail to halt Trinity Mirror revenue slide in third quarter
In recent months Trinity Mirror has cut 78 roles at its regional titles as it refocuses its efforts on digital and video.
Nevertheless the publisher managed to shrink net debt by £3m to £19m, even after paying the interim dividend of £6m in September amidst a strengthening advertising market nationally.
Revenue declines were driven by a 9% fall in publishing, with a double-digit print decline of 10% leading this downward pressure, despite digital revenue actually increasing by 4%. These falls came on the back of a reduction in publishing print advertising and circulation revenue by 16 and 7% respectively.
In a statement Trinity Mirror wrote: “We are experiencing improving trends in nationally sourced print advertising revenues, though local advertising, particularly classified remain challenging and volatile.
“We delivered continued growth in digital display and transactional revenue of 14%, but classified digital revenues, which are substantially jointly sold with print, remained under pressure.”