As New Day dawns, Trinity Mirror reports statutory fall in revenue and operating profit
Publisher Trinity Mirror announced falls in revenue and operating profit as it launched its New Day newspaper today.
The company’s pre-tax profits dropped from £81.6m to £67.2m in the year to 27 December 2015. And its revenue was down seven per cent to £592.7m.
Trinity Mirror said that on an adjusted basis its operating profit was up from £105.5m to £109.6m.
In the company’s publishing division, a growth in digital revenue – from £32.4m to £42.9m – failed to offset a print revenue fall from £521.6m to £485.9m.
In addition to New Day, Trinity Mirror also publishes the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People and, after the 2015 acquisition of rival Local World, more than 150 regional newspapers.
On New Day, the company said: "If successful, the title is expected to move into profit by the end of the year. We will provide regular updates on this investment as we progress through the year.”
Chief executive Simon Fox said: “I am pleased with the profit growth we delivered in 2015 despite the challenging print environment. Our significant efforts on improving our balance sheet over the past three years enabled the transformational acquisition of Local World.
"We are delighted to welcome the Local World team to Trinity Mirror and are making good progress with the integration of the two companies and finding opportunities to benefit from best practice.
"While we expect print markets to remain difficult in 2016, the continued implementation of our strategy gives the Board confidence in our performance for the year ahead.
"We have today launched, The New Day. It is an exciting and innovative initiative which we believe fills a gap in the market for a daily newspaper designed to co-exist in a digital age.”