Northcliffe Media witnesses slump in ad revenue
Northcliffe Media, the regional press arm of the Daily Mail and General Trust, has seen its advertising revenues crash 12% in the first quarter of 2011.
The decline marks a significant worsening in the position of Northcliffe since its last trading update in January – when sales fell 6%.
These declines were echoed in underlying revenues (down 8%), circulation (3% off) and advertising (8% reduced).
Ruminating on the precipitous figures the Trust blamed the crash in sales on a retrenchment in government ad spending.
The group reported better trading conditions at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday however, where underlying ad revenues rose by 2%. However this figure represented a significantly weaker rate of growth than the 6% posted in January.
Underlying ad profits at Associated Newspapers were also up 5% with circulation revenues down 2% in the five months to the end of February.
With overall revenues rising 2% year on year DMGT saw fit to declare the results “satisfactory” in the final reckoning but the firm remains dubious over mid term uncertainty owing to the “fragile” state of the UK economy.