NOTW closure helps lift Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror said it did not yet know the impact of an editorial review implemented after a phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World but said its sales had benefited from the closure of the rival tabloid.
The newspaper publisher said group circulation revenues were up two per cent in July with national titles up four per cent, after a 5.4 per cent decline in group circulation revenues in the first half.
“Following the closure of the News of the World we undertook a range of publishing and marketing activities to maximise our share of the Sunday newspaper market,” the company said in a statement on Friday.
“The early results of this activity are highly encouraging with an increase in both volume and revenue of each of our six Sunday newspaper titles, particularly so for our three national titles,” it said.
The News of the World Sunday tabloid, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, shut down in July after the news broke that journalists at the newspaper had listened to the voicemails of murder victims as well as celebrities.
Trinity Mirror will also soon have to defend itself against at least three or four phone-hacking cases, according to lawyer Mark Lewis, who is representing dozens of claimants against the NOTW, including the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
Trinity Mirror reported first-half revenue down three percent to £371m and operating profit down 24 per cent to £47m, in line with market forecasts. It said it expected 2011 results to meet company expectations.